KURTZ'S 



SACRED HISTORY. 





MANUAL 

SACRED HISTORY: 

A GUIDE TO THE UNDERSTANDING 

©f t\t §M\\t flo 0f SaItoatx0tx 

ACCORDING TO ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. 
BY 

JOHN HENRY KURTZ, D.D., 

PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DORPAT, ETC. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH GERMAN EDITION, 

BY 

CHARLES F. SCHAEFFER, D.D. 

4 

PHILADELPHIA: 

LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 

186 0. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 

LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY J. FAQAN. 






f "^ / 






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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed 
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he 
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be 
holy and without blame before him in love : having predestinated us unto the 
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure 
° his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us 
u tepted in the beloved : in whom we have redemption through his blood, the 
k jiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath 
unded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto 
+ he mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath pur- 
ad in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which 
are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, 
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things 
after the counsel of his own will : that we should be to the praise of his glory, 
who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the 
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in whom also, after that ye be- 
lieved, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest 
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the 
praise of his glory." Ephesians 1 : 3—14. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



Professor Kurtz, the author of the work of which the present 
volume is a translation, is a German by "birth ; he has, however, oc- 
cupied for several years a distinguished post in one of the principal 
Universities of the .Russian Empire, of which Dorpat, in Livonia, one 
of the Baltic provinces, is the seat. After he had completed his pre- 
paratory studies, he visited the University of Halle, in the year 1830, 
at the age of twenty-one years, and attended the theological lectures 
of Ullmann and Tholuck. The latter, whose discriminating glance 
had perceived the indications of genius in his pupil, and whose in- 
tercourse in social life with many of the students of the University, 
is well known to have been of inestimable value to them, soon exer- 
cised a commanding influence over our author. While the orthodox 
character of Tholuck's lectures produced a deep impression on Kurtz, 
it is, pre-eminently, to his personal intercourse with Tholuck that 
he is indebted, by the divine blessing, for his establishment in the 
faith, and the ardent desire of his heart to aid in glorifying the name 
of his adorable Redeemer. After having acquired a high reputation 
by the fidelity and success with which he labored as a teacher, and 
been successively promoted to posts of greater responsibility, he was, 
ultimately, appointed Professor of Church History, &c, in the Uni- 
versity of Dorpat, where he still resides. His position is, happily, 

vfi 



V1U TRANSLATORS PREFACE. 

of such a nature, that he enjoys the most perfect freedom in the ex- 
pression of his religious opinions as a sound and conscientious Pro- 
testant divine. 

His contributions to theological literature have already secured 
for him the highest rank among European theologians. They are 
all characterized by a lucid and animated style, strict fidelity to truth, 
varied learning, great originality and depth, and soundness in the 
faith. Our own American theologians, who are acquainted with the 
German language and its literature, and who have examined his 
Writings, unite in testifying to their great excellence. The recom- 
mendatory notices of the Rev. Dr. Schmucker, and the Rev. Dr. 
Krauth, prefixed to this volume, contain an expression of their views 
respecting the value of the present work. The latter refers to a no- 
tice of Kurtz which appeared in the Evangelical Review (Gettysburg, 
Pa., July, 1853, p. 138) ; the same periodical has specially described 
the present work in a later number, (October, 1854, p. 287, &c.,) and 
to its editor the translator is greatly indebted for the counsel and 
encouragement afforded to him while he was occupied with the task 
of translating the Sacred History. 

The translator was desirous of introducing to the English religious 
community an author so worthy of being known, and has, with that 
view, selected among his different publications, the Sacred History, 
since it is adapted to a large class of readers. It may be mentioned 
as an indication of the great and acknowledged value of this produc- 
tion, that after the first edition of the original had been published in 
the year 1843, other and larger editions were urgently demanded, 
and it reached the sixth edition in 1853, ten years after its first 
appearance. 

The Author designed the work, as we learn from the Preface to 
the first edition, for " the friends of the Holy Scriptures," whom it 
offers to conduct, as a well-meaning and faithful guide, through the 



translator's preface. ix 

region of Sacred History. He purposes to direct the attention of 
the intelligent and devout reader to the wonderful works and ways 
of God among men ; he desires to exhibit, in a statement that shall 
attempt to combine comprehensiveness with succinctness, the Divine 
Plan of Salvation — its first manifestation in history, its progressive 
movements, its glorious execution, and its ultimate triumph. He 
modestly expresses his wish that his book may aid in unfolding the 
treasures of saving truth, according to the measure of the gift be- 
stowed upon him, and incite the reader to engage personally and 
zealously in the work of searching the Scriptures. In the prefaces 
to the later editions, he acknowledges with devout gratitude to God, 
the favorable reception which large numbers of believers have given 
to his work. This fact is, itself, a favorable indication of the reli- 
gious feeling of those among whom it has circulated, and furnishes 
another cheering proof that faithful efforts to glorify the name of our 
divine Redeemer, receive the promised blessing, and are crowned 
with success. 

It was also the desire of the author to adapt the book to a course 
of religious instruction, or to lectures on the general subject of Sacred 
History. It has, accordingly, been introduced into many of the 
higher educational institutions of Germany, as a text-book designed 
both to aid the student's memory, and to serve as the foundation of 
the fuller oral explanations of the instructor. 

The Author has prepared another work, on the same plan, designed 
for young pupils, which would be a truly valuable addition to every 
Sunday School Library, and which may, hereafter, be also furnished 
in an English translation. He is now engaged in preparing a large 
work, entitled, The History of the Old Covenant, of which the first 
volume has already appeared in a second edition, and which is de- 
signed to be a commentary on the present work. It furnishes the 
authorities by which the writer's statements are confirmed, (which 
accounts for the absence of references in the present volume,) and 



X TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. 

abounds in theological and historical materials of unusual value ; 
several years must, however, elapse, before the author can complete 
the whole work. 

The narrative or Sacred History before us, begins, strictly speak- 
ing, with I 9. The Introduction prefixed to the History, contains 
the first eight sections of the whole, referring, in part, to subjects 
that are abstract in their nature, and designed, in part, to give a 
view of the author's specific purpose, and of the character of the 
materials which he employs. The whole Introduction could, per- 
haps, have been omitted, without materially impairing the value of 
the work; it embraces, however, topics which are in the highest 
degree suggestive, and so important, that the translator did not feel 
at liberty to withhold it from the reflecting reader. The Observa- 
tions appended to almost every section throughout the volume, con- 
tain the ripe fruits of the author's extensive reading and profound 
meditation. His other works, such as The History of the Old Cove- 
nant, The Bible and Astronomy, &c, exhibit, in many cases, the facts 
and arguments which have furnished the rich results presented in 
these Observations. 

Of the adaptation of the volume, as a text-book, to the purpose of 

conveying a knowledge of historical truth in its most important de- 

* 
partment, to those who are completing their studies, a brief exami- 
nation will furnish the evidence. Prof. J. Addison Alexander, D.D., 
of Princeton, whose eminent position in the theological world, and 
whose profound acquaintance with the merits of German writers, 
have won the highest authority for his opinions, has long been fami- 
liar with this " Sacred History," and is accustomed to use it at cer- 
tain stages in his course of lectures in the Seminary, as far as it is 
possible to do so without an English version. The translator, who 
had completed a large portion of the work which he had undertaken, 
before he became acquainted with this circumstance, could scarcely 



translator's preface. xi 

furnish Evangelical Christians with higher evidence of the suitable- 
ness of the book as an aid in the work of conveying biblical instruction, 

It cannot, indeed, be supposed that the reader will at once adopt 
ail the views of the Author ; they refer to the loftiest subjects which 
can occupy the human mind, on some of which great diversity of 
opinions has always existed among the wise and the good. A few 
passages occur in the concluding portions of the volume, which ex- 
press views that deviate from those of several branches of the church 
of Christ ; as they are, however, very brief, and the suppression of 
them would have violated the integrity of the translation, they have 
been retained. The Author himself remarks in the Preface to the 
second edition, that an instructor is always at liberty to omit por- 
tions that may not be deemed essential to the narrative ; he is, fur- 
ther, always in a position to modify or amend any sentiment with 
which he may not concur. The only unerring rule of faith and 
practice, is, in the Author's own view, the inspired Word of God. 

The Church History published by Prof. Kurtz has attracted uni- 
versal attention, on account of its singular excellence, fidelity, and 
tasteful and graphic style of narration. It seems to be generally 
regarded as the best Church History, within moderate limits, which 
we now possess in any language. The Author himself designed it, 
in one of the several editions through which it has passed, to be a 
companion or sequel to the present work. Arrangements have 
already been made for translating and publishing it at an early 
period, as a very important addition to the religious and theological 
literature of our country. 

The translator of the present work has endeavored to present sim- 
ply a faithful version of the original, without any additions or omis- 
sions. He has not added any notes of consequence, as these were 
not required by the general design of the book ; nor has he made 
extracts from the larger work of the author, the History of the Old 



/ 



Xll TRANSLATORS PREFACE. 

Covenant, as it may itself be hereafter submitted to the public in a 
translation. The insertion of a word or phrase, occurring a few 
times in the volume, and either designed to complete the sense, or 
required by the structure of the English language, is usually indi- 
cated by brackets ( [ ] ), which mark the terms for which the author 
is not responsible. 

The translator trusts that the work in its English garb may be 
deemed acceptable, and humbly prays that the same divine blessing 
may attend it, which has made the work in the original language 
profitable to large numbers both of the old and the young among 
those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Translator. 

Easton, Pa., December 1854. 



CONTENTS. 



INTKODUCTION. 

PAGE 

J 1. Definition of Sacred History 21 

g 2. The Being of God 22 

g 3. The external Action of God 25 

\ 4. The Creature 26 

§ 5. The Source of Sacred History 27 

g 6. Relation of Sacred History to kindred branches of Knowledge 28 

g 7. Characteristic Features of Sacred History 31 

§ 8. Epochs in the Chronology of Sacred History 34 



DIVISION A. 
THE CREATION AND THE FALL OP MAN. 

I 9. The Creation , ■ 36 

§ 10. Position and Destination of Man 38 

\ 11. The Fall 42 

§ 12, The Consequences of the Fall 43 

DIVISION B. 
REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



PART I. 



THE PLAN OF SALVATION, IN ITS INTRODUCTORY 
STAGES. 

§ 13. Man's Capability of being Redeemed 47 

# 14. The Divine Counsel of Redemption »» 48 

I 15. Gradual Development of the Plan of Salvation 50 

2 xiii 



X1Y CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

FROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE DELUGE. 

PAGB 

§ 16. Cain and Abel. The Cainites and Sethites , 52 

§ 17. The Deluge 54 

CHAPTER II 

FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM. 

§18. The Noachian Covenant 57 

§ 19. The Sons of Noah 59 

§ 20. The Confusion of Tongues, and the Dispersion of Mankind 60 

CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

§21. General View 63 

§ 22. The Holy Land 65 

FIRST PERIOD. 

THE AGE OF THE PATRIARCHS. 

§23. Significance of this Period 68 

§ 24. The Calling and Emigration of Abraham 71 

§ 25. Chedorlaomer and Melchizedek 74 

§ 26. First Stage of the Covenant. Hagar and Ishmael 75 

§ 27. Second Stage of the Covenant 78 

§28. Appearance of the Lord in Mamre. Sodom and Gomorrah 79 

§ 29. Isaac's Birth and Offering 81 

§ 30. Sarah's Death. Isaac's Marriage. Abraham's Death 84 

§ 31. Isaac and his Sons 85 

§32. Jacob's Journey , 88 

§ 33. The Wrestling of Jacob 89 

§ 34. The History of Joseph 91 

§ 35. The Last Days of Jacob and Joseph 94 

§ 36. Revelation, Religion, and Intellectual Culture, in the Age of the 

Patriarchs , 97 

SECOND PERIOD 

MOSES, AND THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 

§ 37. Significance of this Period 100 

§ 38. Israel's Bondage 102 



CONTENTS. XV 

PAGE 

§ 39. The Birth and Calling of Moses 103 

§ 40. The Plagues of Egypt, and the Departure of Israel 105 

§ 41. The Desert of Arabia 108 

§ 42. The Journey to Sinai 110 

\ 43. The Giving of the Law 112 

§ 44. The Golden Calf. The Renewed Tables of the Law 116 

§ 45. The Tabernacle 117 

§ 46. The Priests and the Levites, (Office and Garments) 121 

§ 47. Continuation, (Dwellings — Consecration of the Priests and Levites) 123 

§ 48. Sacrifices 125 

§ 49. The Festivals 127 

§ 50. Purifications 130 

§ 51. Laws respecting Food 132 

§ 52. A. Vows 133 

§ 52. B. The Ethical and Philanthropical (humane) Features of the Law 134 

§53. Departure from Sinai. The Graves of Lust. The Sin of Miriam... 136 

§ 54. The Twelve Spies. The Rebellion of Korah 137 

§ 55. The Journeyings of Thirty-eight Years. The "Water of Strife. 

Aaron's Death. The Brazen Serpent , 139 

§ 56. The Conquest of the East-Jordanic Territory. Balaam 142 

§ 57. The Last Days of Moses 145 

§ 58. The Pentateuch , 146 

THIRD PERIOD. 

JOSHUA ; AND THE CONQUEST OF THE PROMISED LAND. 

§ 59. Significance of this Period. Israel's Claims to the Land of Canaan 149 

§ 60. Joshua. The Passage over the Jordan 151 

§ 61. The Conquest of the TVest-Jordanic Territory. (Jericho and Ai).... 152 

§ 62. Continuation. (The Gibeonites. Adoni-zedek. Jabin) 154 

§ 63. The Division of the Land. The Death of Joshua 155 

FOURTH PERIOD. 

THE AGE OF THE JUDGES. 

§ 64. Characteristic Features of this Period 157 

§ 65. Events subsequent to the Death of Joshua. The First Judges 160 

§ 66. A. Gideon and Abimelech , 162 

§66. B. The History of Ruth 164 

§ 67. Jephthah 165 

§68. Eli, the High-priest... 167 

§ 69. Samson .... ; .... 169 



XVI CONTENTS. 

FIFTH PERIOD. 

PROM SAMUEL TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AND THE 
DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. 

PAGE 

§ 70. Characteristic Features of this Period 171 

§ 71. Samuel, and the Reformation of the People 174 

§ 72. The Appointment and the Rejection of Saul 175 

§73. David's Afflictions. Saul's Death 177 

§ 74. Commencement of David's Reign. Public Worship 179 

§ 75. Jerusalem, the City of the King 181 

§ 76. The Promise given to David. His Victorious Reign. His Sin and 

Repentance 184 

g 77. The Troubles occasioned by Absalom and Sheba 186 

g 78. David numbers the People 187 

§ 79. David's Significance in the Kingdom of God 189 

§ 80. Solomon ascends the Throne 189 

\ 81. The Building of the Temple 190 

I 82. Solomon's Glory and Fall 192 

\ 83. The Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews 193 

\ 84. The Psalms 196 

I 85. The Book of Proverbs 201 

§ 86. The Song of Solomon, or Canticles 203 

\ 87. The Book of Job , 204 

SIXTH PERIOD. 

FROM THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE CESSATION OF 

PROPHECY. 

£ 88. Characteristic Features of this Period 207 

g 89. Connection of the History of Israel and of the Cotemporaneous 

Pagan Kingdoms 210 

§ 90. Division of the Kingdom. Jeroboam. Rehoboam 215 

§ 91. Abijah and Asa in Judah. Jeroboam's Successors in Israel 216 

I 92. Elijah the Tishbite 217 

g 93. Ahab in Israel 219 

\ 94. Jehoshaphat in Judah. Ahaziah and Jehoram in Israel. Elijah is 

taken up into Heaven 220 

§ 95. The Labors of Elisha 222 

£ 96. Jehoram and Ahaziah in Judah. Jehu in Israel. Athaliah and 

Jehoash in Judah 224 

§ 97. Jehoahaz, Joash, and Jeroboam II. in Israel. Amaziah in Judah.. 226 
§ 98. Uzziah and Jotham in Judah. The cotemporaneous Kings in Israel 227 
g 99. The new Character which Prophecy assumed 228 



CONTENTS. XVU 

PAGE 

J 100. The Prophets who preceded the Captivity. (Hosea, Joel, Amos, 

Obadiah, Jonah) 230 

§101. Continuation. (Isaiah, Micah) 232 

g 102. Ahaz in Judah. Overthrow of the Kingdom of Israel 234 

§ 103. Hezekiah, Manasseh and Am on 236 

§ 104. Josiah and his successors. Overthrow of the Kingdom of Judah.. 

Gedaliah 237 

§ 105. The Prophets of the Captivity (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 

Jeremiah 239 

§106. The Captives. Ezekiel 241 ' 

\ 107. The Prophet Daniel 243 

§ 108. The Return of the Captives, and the Building of the Temple. 

Ezra. Nehemiah. Esther 247 

§ 109. The Prophets who appeared after the Return from Babylon. (Hag- 

gai, Zechariah, Malachi) 249 

§ 110. Ecclesiastes 251 

\ 111. The Canon of the Old Testament 252 

SEVENTH PERIOD. 

FROM THE CESSATION OF PROPHECY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 
TO ITS FULFILMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

§ 112. Characteristic Features of this Period. — (The Apocrypha) 254 

\ 113. The Jews and the third Great Monarchy 256 

§ 114. The Maccabees or Asmoneans . 259 

§ 115. The Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. 260 

§ 116. The Herodian Family 262 

§ 117. The Roman Procurators, and the Destruction of Jerusalem 265 

\ 118. Israel's Present Condition , 267 

I 119. Israel's Prospects 270 

PART II. 

THE PLAN OF SALVATION, IN ITS FULFILMENT AND 
FINAL RESULTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MANIFESTATION OF SALVATION IN THE PERSON OF THE 

REDEEMER. 

§ 120. The Fulness of the Time 271 

\ 121. The Essentials of the Work of Redemption , 274 

2* 



XV111 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

g 122. The Person of the Redeemer 276 

g 123. The Forerunner , 277 

g 124. The Genealogy of Christ 279 

g 125. The Virgin Mary 281 

g 126. The Birth of Jesus 283 

g 127. The Circumcision and Presentation of Jesus 285 

g 128. The Wise Men out of the East, and the Flight into Egypt........... 286 

g 129. The Early Years of Christ 287 

g 130. The Baptism and the Temptation of Jesus 289 

g 131. The Disciples of Jesus 291 

g 132. Continuation 293 

g 133. The Labors of Christ as a Prophet 296 

g 134. The Law preached by Christ 298 

g 135. The Gospel preached by Christ.— His Witness of Himself 300 

g 136. Continuation. — Of his Redeeming Work 302 

g 137. Continuation. — Of his Kingdom 304 

g 138. Christ's Miraculous Power in general » 306 

g 139. Christ's Miraculous Power over Nature 310 

g 140. Christ healing the Sick 311 

g 141. Christ raising the Dead 313 

g 142. The Demoniacs.. 314 

g 143. The Extent of the Labors of the Redeemer 317 

g 144. The Immediate Results of the Labors of Christ 318 

g 145. The Transfiguration of Christ 321 

g 146. The Anointing in Bethany 323 

g 147. The Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem 324 

g 148. The Counsel taken by the Enemies of Jesus against Him 326 

g 149. Christ's Predictions respecting the Destruction of Jerusalem and 

the End of the World. 328 

g 150. The Passover and the last Discourses of Jesus 330 

g 151. The Agony in Gethsemane. The Seizure of Christ by the Officers 

of the Jews 333 

g 152. Christ in the Presence of the High-Priest. Peter and Judas 337 

g 153. Christ in the Presence of Pilate 339 

g 154. The Crucifixion of Christ 341 

g 155. The Death of Christ 343 

g 156. The Burial of Christ. 344 

g 157. The Resurrection of Christ. Mary Magdalene 346 

g 158. The two Disciples of Emmaus, and the Twelve 349 

g 159. Peter's new Call. The Institution of Baptism 351 

g 160. The Ascension of Christ 352 



CONTENTS. XIX 

CHAPTER II. 

THE PROMULGATION OF SALVATION BY THE APOSTLES. 

PAGE 

$ 161. The Design and Significance of this Period 354 

\ 162. The Day of Pentecost , 356 

§ 163 The inner state of the Church in Jerusalem 359 

g 164. The first Persecutions of the Church. (Peter and John) 362 

§165. Continuation. (Stephen) , 364 

§ 166. Conversion of the Samaritans. Simon the Sorcerer. The Ethi- 
opian Eunuch 365 

I 167. The Conversion of Paul 367 

§ 16S. Peter's Miracles in Lydda and Joppa. The Conversion of Cor- 
nelius 369 

$ 169. The Church in Antioch. The Execution of James, and the Deli- 
verance of Peter , 372 

J 170. Paul's first Missionary Journey. Barnabas 373 

§ 171. The Apostolic Council of Jerusalem 375 

g 172. Paul's second Missionary Journey. Philippi 377 

§ 173. Continuation. — Thessalonica. Berea. Athens , 379 

§ 174. Continuation. — Corinth. The Return to Antioch. (The Epistles 

to the Thessalonians) 380 

§ 175. Paul's third Missionary Journey. Ephesus. (The Epistles — to 
the Galatians; — to Timothy (the First); — to the Corinthians 

(the First); and— to Titus) 382 

§ 176. Continuation. — Paul's Labors in Europe, and his Return to Jeru- 
salem. (The Epistles — to the Corinthians (the Second); and — to 

the Romans 386 

§ 177. The Seizure and Confinement of Paul in Jerusalem 388 

§ 178. Paul before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa 390 

§ 179. Paul's Imprisonment in Rome. (The Epistles — to the Ephesians; 

— to the Colossians; — to Philemon; — and — to the Philippians)... 391 
§ 180. Continuation. (The Epistles — to Timothy (the Second); and — to 

the Hebrews) 394 

§181. The later Labors of the other Apostles.— Peter 395 

\ 182. Continuation.— John 396 

§ 183. Continuation. — James and Jude 398 

g 184. The Four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles 400 

CHAPTER III. 

: THE APPROPRIATION OF SALVATION IN THE CHURCH. 

I 185. The Design and Character of this Period 402 

g 186. The Means of Grace. (The Word of God) 404 



XX CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

§187. Continuation. (Prayer) , 406 

§188. Continuation. (The Sacraments in general) 408 

g 189. Continuation. (Baptism) 409 

g 190. Continuation. (The Lord's Supper) 412 

g 191. The Church, viewed as an Institution of Saving Grace 414 

g 192. The Way of Salvation. (Calling, Illumination, Conversion) 416 

g 193. Continuation. (Justification, Sanctification).., 418 

g 194. The Development and Limits of this Period 419 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION OF SALVATION. 

g 195. The Circumstances on which the ultimate Consummation depends, 

and the Signs which precede it 421 

g 196. The Millennium ... 423 

g 197. The little Season of the last Contest 425 

g 198. The Second Coming of Christ 427 

g 199. The Resurrection of the Dead, the Change which the Living will 

undergo, and the Renovation of Heaven and Earth 429 

g 200. The Judgment 432 

§ 201. Eternal Life and Eternal Death 433 



:amir ^i^txrtg. 



INTRODUCTION. 

§ 1. Definition of Sacred History. 

1. History, viewed in a general aspect as a science, is the 
methodical narration of events in the order in which tKey succes- 
sively occurred, exhibiting the beginning and progress, the causes 
and effects, and the auxiliaries and tendencies of that which has 
occurred. An occurrence, which is a term implying that a cer- 
tain change has taken place, assumes the precise form in which it 
appears, not through any natural necessity, but through the influ- 
ence of a free will which is distinct from it, so that, even under 
the same circumstances, the occurrence might have, possibly, as- 
sumed another form. The true idea or conception of History is, 
therefore, applicable to the life of a free creature alone, and, in- 
deed, so long only, as the creature is susceptible of a change. 
When it has arrived at the limit or end of its development, its 
history terminates. — The life of God, considered in itself, is not 
capable of being historically described, since it is absolute perfec- 
tion, and, consequently, undergoes no change. But history may, 
with great propriety, describe the life and operation of God, either 
directly in the creature, or else in reference to it ; for the different 
stages of development, and the differences of condition in the life 
of the creature, involve progress and variation in the control which 
Gcd exercises over it. 

2. Sacred History is that history which proceeds from the 
combination of the action of God, and the action of the creature. 

(21) 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

It consequently exhibits, on the one hand, the action of divine 
grace, and, on the other, the exercise of the liberty of the crea- 
ture ; it sets forth, as the task assigned to it, the fulfilling of the 
divine counsel (Ephes. 1 : 11), both in the creature itself, and 
also in reference to it. Its commencement coincides with the 
commencement of the creature to which the creative influence of 
God gave life and the capability of being developed; its progress 
depends on the continuance of the divine action in the develop- 
ment of the creature through the active influence which appears 
in the form of a divine revelation ; its end is reached, when the 
divine counsel is completely unfolded and manifested, and when, 
consequently, the creature has attained to its highest or most 
perfect state. The Holy Scriptures constitute its source. Thus, 
Sacred History is emphatically termed sacred, both on account of 
the source from which the knowledge of it is derived, and on ac- 
count of the nature of its contents, and the commencement, 
progress, and end of its development. 

Observation. — The term sacred designates that which is separated 
from common secular uses and consecrated to God and his service. 
A history, accordingly, which is occupied exclusively with the sub- 
ject of the fulfilling of the divine counsel both in the creature itself, 
and also in reference to it, is, with propriety, termed a Sacred His- 
tory. It is also evident, that individuals and nations, facts and 
plans, belong to such a history in so far and so long only, as they 
stand in essential connection with that counsel and hinder or pro- 
mote it, or, as far as they are either already included in it, or are 
appointed to be included in it hereafter. 

§ 2. The Being of God. 

1. God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, is the ori- 
ginal principle or ultimate ground of all life, and, consequently, 
of all history. God is, emphatically, the true and absolutely per- 
fect life, having the ground and source of his existence, not in 
another, but in himself (John 5 : 26); he is, hence, not restricted 
by any external limitation, but is eternal and infinite, and, in his 
eternal blessedness, he is characterized by all-sufficiency. — God is, 
in reference to his essence, one God — for the highest and most 
perfect life is, necessarily, undivided, or unity. But the oneness 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

of the essence or being of God does not exclude the distinction of 
Persons in God; on the contrary, God has, in the revelation of 
himself in history, really manifested himself as the triune God, 
whose being, although it is one only, is unfolded in a three-fold 
personality, (Father, Son, and Spirit.) Both history, in the 
events which it sets forth, and also the human mind, when it 
reasons profoundly, necessarily lead to the recognition of a per- 
sonality in the one divine essence, developed not as one only, but 
as three-fold. This unfolding of the unity of the divine being 
in a trinity of Persons is eternal and necessary, constituting the 
ground of the divine life and existence. It does not itself belong 
to history, since it is eternal, and, therefore, lies beyond the con- 
fines of time and space, while history, describing that which suc- 
cessively or gradually arises, can unfold itself in space and time 
only. Nevertheless, it is presupposed in history, and is recognized 
by it as the ground of its own origin, since God manifests himself 
in history as a triune God. 

Obs. — All life is action; the highest and most perfect life is also 
action in the highest degree. If God is eternal, he is also eternally 
active. All action requires an object adapted to the active power 
which is present, and hence the infinite power of God requires an 
infinite object. Such an object cannot be distinct from himself, but 
must exist in hira, since the indispensable condition, or, all the 
grounds of his life, are concentrated in himself. If this object were 
the world, the world would necessarily be eternal, and on its ex- 
istence the existence of God would depend ; further, a finite world 
could never be an absolutely worthy object of the divine action, or 
occupy and entirely absorb the infinite power of his life. An infi- 
nite object, that is to say, the infinite God himself alone can be an 
absolutely worthy object of infinite action. Hence, God can never 
have been secluded in himself in rigid unity. His life, his action, 
that is, his thoughts, his will (love), and his desires, both require, 
and are themselves, an unfolding of his being, first of all, as a 
subject and an object — Father and Son. But a duality is merely a dis- 
tinction without unity, an antithesis without an intermediate link ; 
after a trinity appears, the antithesis ceases, and the difference estab- 
lished by an unfolding in a duality, is brought back to a unity ; (an 
illustration of this point, derived from the material world, may be 
found in the triangle and the cube.) This necessary Third (person) 
in God is the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

and of the same essence with both. In him is completed the unfold 
ing of God in a Trinity, wherein the Deity appears in infinite, all- 
sufficient fulness and perfection. 

2. In virtue of the most perfect oneness of essence ; all the 
divine attributes belong to each of the three divine persons in 
perfectly the same, that is, in an infinite degree ; but, in virtue 
of their personal distinction, a personal character belongs to each, 
which determines their peculiar internal and external action. 
God the Father is the original ground of all life, (Ephes. 4:6; 
James 1 : 17), from whom all visible and invisible gifts proceed, 
that is, through the Son and the Spirit. He himself is, indeed, 
invisible to the creature, unsearchable and unapproachable (1 Tim. 
6 : 15, 16.), but he reveals himself in the Son and in the Spirit, 
in whom, also, he is revealed to the creature and becomes acces- 
sible, (John 1 : 18; 1 Cor. 2 : 10.) — God the Son, begotten of 
the Father from eternity, is the image of the invisible God (Col. 
1 : 15, 16), and the brightness of his glory (Heb. 1 : 3), to 
whom the Father hath given to have life in himself (John 5 : 
26.) According to the personal distinction, he is God who ap- 
pears and is manifested, the face of God, through whom the 
Father creates, sustains, and preserves all things (John 1 : 1, 3 ; 
Heb. 1 : 2, 3 ; Col. 1 : 15, 16.) — God the Holy Ghost, eternally 
proceeding from the Father and the Son, and personally distinct 
from both, is God who communicates, in whom the Father and 
the Son meet in perfect and living unity and communion, through 
whom the Deity gives and distributes divine power, life, and 
grace (John 16: 13, 14; 2 Pet. 1: 21; 1 Cor. 2: 9, 10.), and 
through whom the union between the Deity and the creature is 
completed. 

Obs. — God's unfolding of himself in a Trinity precedes all history 
and lies beyond and above it. But the revelation of this triune es- 
sence belongs to history, and is its subject; hence, the consciousness 
of it did not originally belong to human knowledge, but was made 
attainable through the gradual progress of revelation. Now, as we 
should study and judge the history of former generations not merely 
according to their own imperfect light, but also according to the 
perfect light of our own times, even so the triune being of God, 
which influenced history from the beginning and is presupposed by 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

it, must be described according to the measure of our present know- 
ledge, previous to the consideration of history itself. 

§ 3. The External Action of God. 

In addition to the necessary and eternal action of God within 
himself, there is another mode of divine action, of which his own 
existence is perfectly independent, and which is, consequently, 
neither essentially necessary nor eternal, namely, that of Creation. 
This action is not an unfolding of his being or a generating, but 
only an expression of his will, or of his free grace, through which 
all beside him that has life, was produced from nothing (Heb. 
11 : 3). God created, not because he needed creatures in any 
manner, not for his sake, but for their sakes ; it was his will that 
creatures should exist who might be happy and blessed in the ful- 
ness of the life which flowed from his grace and love. — The 
Creation already belongs to history, because it originated space 
and time, within the bounds of which its movements take place ; 
hence, it is an event which has occurred. — With the creative ac- 
tion of God are connected both the preservation of all, by which 
the powers and means granted to creatures when they were made, 
are maintained, and also, the government of the world, which 
guides the free development of the creature, watches over it and 
controls it with kingly and judicial power. The action of God 
in revealing himself is distinct from both; by this he does not 
merely rule over history, but also in it, enters into it, acts with 
it, and, in connection with it, unfolds himself in an ever en- 
larging communication of himself. 

Obs. — The two names of Elohim and Jehovah correspond to these 
two aspects of the historical action of God, namely, on the one hand, 
as he is the Creator, Preserver and Judge — and, on the other, as he 
himself enters into history, acts with it, and assumes a body in it. 
The former name, involving fundamentally the conception of power, 
describes God as the fulness and source of all life, who, bearing in 
himself the powers of all life and development, through his creative 
action, gives them an external position, and who imparts to history 
a commencement admitting of further development. But Elohim, as 
the Creator, is both the Preserver, since the preservation of all is a 
continuation of the creation, and also the Judge, since judgment is 
the measuring of the unfolded end according to the capability of de- 
3 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

velopnient bestowed on the commencement. — Jehovah, on the other 
hand, involving fundamentally the conception of being or becoming, 
(obviously, however, not in the sense that his being itself, but the 
revelation of his being begins,) is the God of development, who him- 
self enters into the development, acts with it, and guides it securely 
to its end. The name Elohim is a pledge that the results of the di- 
vine action which it designates are capable of being developed, or, 
that they can reach the appointed end, but not that they will also 
actually reach it, while the name Jehovah is a pledge of the actual 
development, or a surety that the power will and must be unfolded, 
and the commencement be assuredly maintained, until the appointed 
end shall be ultimately reached. As far as God is Elohim, he is the 
God of the Gentiles also, but as Jehovah, he is the God of Israel 
alone, for the Gentiles have forsaken the path of the development 
which Jehovah sustains and directs, and walk in their own ways, 
(2 21.) According to the example of the Greek version of the Bible, 
or the Septuagint, ($ 113. 2. Obs.) in which these names are rendered 
by &6g and xvpvof, Luther's German Bible translates Elohim and 
Jehovah respectively: Gott (God) and Kerr (Lord).* 

§ 4. The Creature. 

1. A Creature, according to the conception which the mind 
forms of it, does not possess in itself the ground or source of its 
own existence, which is, on the contrary, to be referred to God, 
the ultimate ground of all things. Its life is, therefore, finite, 
that is, circumscribed by space and time, within which it acts, 
and beyond which it cannot subsist. It is bound to space and 
time by its materiality. The body is the organ of the power of 
action in which its life is manifested. — The life of the creature 
appears in two modes, which are essentially different — a personal 
and an impersonal life, or, Spirit and Nature, according as its 
vital powers are called into exercise by a free determination of 
which it is conscious, or only by instinct and a natural necessity. 
The created and finite spirit is conscious of itself and of its rela- 

* [" Our own (translators of the English Bible) have only in four places 
of the Old Testament used the name of Jehovah; in all other places, 
which are almost innumerable, they render it the Lord. But, for dis- 
tinction's sake, when this word corresponds to Jehovah, it is printed in 
capitals." Campbell's Four Gospels, Prelim. Diss. VII. Part I. p. 256. — 
Translator.] 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

tion to God and nature ; it acts in the domain of morals and re- 
ligion, and is accountable for its actions. A different case is 
presented by nature, the ultimate design of which does not lie in 
itself, but in the finite spirit to which it is assigned, and which 
dwells and acts in it. Even the finite spirit, however, is ineffi- 
cient without nature, in and through which it manifests its life ; 
it belongs, with its body, to nature ; and the individual body sus- 
tains to the individual spirit the same relation which nature, as 
an entire body, sustains to the spirit as a whole. 

2. The life of nature, not being free, does not admit of a his- 
tory ; its development is not supported by liberty and self-deter- 
mination, and hence, in similar relations, it always assumes the 
same forms. The statements which bear the name of a history 
of nature (Natural History), are, properly speaking, merely a de- 
scription of nature. — The development of the life of nature ad- 
vances into the region of history solely on account of its connec- 
tion with the life of the spirit, for the spirit is appointed to 
sustain and rule nature, and conduct it to its end and completion. 
The same animated and significant connection which exists be- 
tween matter and the spirit of the individual, exists also between 
nature and spirit ; all that promotes or hinders the development 
of the spirit, exercises a similar influence on nature, and, con- 
versely, every catastrophe in nature produces a corresponding 
effect on the indwelling spirit. 

§ 5. The Source of Sacred History. 

1. The source whence the knowledge of History is obtained, 
as far as the latter is really entitled to the name of Sacred, is, 
necessarily, sacred itself; even as a history becomes sacred 
through the indwelling of a divine influence, in the development 
of the creature, so, also, does its source become sacred through 
the indwelling of the divine knowledge within the circle of hu- 
man knowledge. Such a source is presented to us in the volume * 
which we term the Sacred Scriptures. It may be regarded as a 
collection of public archives, containing the documents, transac- 
tions and developments of the covenant on which the presence 
and action of God in the history of the creature depend. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

2. The Sacred Seriptures were written by men for the benefit 
of men, and, consequently, conform to the character of man, pre- 
cisely as Sacred History itself appears in the same light, since 
man is its subject, and mankind the sphere in which it moves. 
But they, too, like the development of which they bear witness, 
assume a truly divine character, for the writers were holy men 
of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 
Pet. 1:21). Their own investigations and reflections, their own 
gathering, searching and sifting, and, in general, the efforts of 
their own minds, were not suspended, but rather purified, sancti- 
fied and exalted. Their mental action was, consequently, sus- 
tained and made fertile by the divine Spirit, with a view to the 
preparation of the Scriptures, in a two-fold manner : either, all 
that lay beyond the limits of human experience and human 
knowledge was imprinted by the Spirit on their minds in pro- 
phetic contemplation, or, in those cases in which events lay within 
the bounds of human knowledge, their natural ability to distin- 
guish between error and truth was in so far exalted and sanctified, 
that they were enabled to ascertain and comprehend the truth in 
its purest form. 

§ 6. Relation of Sacred History to kindred Branches of 
Knowledge. 

1. While we observe the distinction which exists between 
Sacred History and Profane History, it is important to notice 
the relation in which these stand to each other, as well as the 
features which are common to both. The essential distinction 
between the two is found in the circumstance that while Profam 
History merely exhibits the general action of God, or his preser- 
vation of all things, and his government of the world, Sacred 
History, in addition to these features, also exhibits the special 
action of God manifested in the revelation which he has given 
of himself (§ 2, 3). He controls and rules over Profane History 
in order that its own course may not thwart his designs, or its 
developments frustrate his general plan and counsel ; but he him- 
self appears in Sacred History, exhibits his action in it, assumes 
a body and unfolds himself in it. — They also sustain a certain re- 
lation to each other, and possess features common to both. They 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

occupy the same ground, they manifest their respective tenden- 
cies in the same region, -and the object of their development, 
towards which they both advance, is the same. While these fea- 
tures are common to both, a reciprocal influence is also observable. 
The counsel of God, the finite realization of which constitutes the 
task or design of Sacred History, purposes to conduct the crea- 
ture, considered collectively, to the highest point of excellence, 
and to sanctify and transform the entire life of the creature in all 
its relations and developments. Hence, the results of Sacred 
History extend to the region of Profane History, and are ap- 
pointed to infuse into it a purifying and sanctifying principle — 
while, conversely, the fruits of natural development in Profane 
History, in so far as they are the normal unfolding of the powers 
given to man at his creation, are intended to serve and to pro- 
mote the ends of Sacred History. 

Obs. — Profane History harmoniously combines with Sacred His- 
tory when it assumes its most perfect form, which is, Universal His- 
tory. This science arranges all the developments of Profane History, 
according to the principle of unity, in one point of view, and esti- 
mates their importance according to the degree of their influence on 
the total earthly development of the human race, of which it may 
be termed the biography. In this aspect, it is not permitted to over- 
look the arrangements and revelations of God intended to lead to the 
happiness and restoration of the human race, since these have exer- 
cised a decided influence on the education and the progress of de- 
velopment of the human race. Universal History cannot, therefore, 
refrain from introducing the facts of Sacred History; still, it is essen- 
tially Profane History ; it does not occupv a position above Sacred 
History (as the genus is above the species), but one that is parallel 
with, or opposite to it. For it regards the materials of Sacred His- 
tory which it adopts, from a different point of view, namely, accord- 
ing to their temporal character only, and exclusively in reference to 
the influence which these materials have exercised on the temporal 
course of things, or on their natural development, but not according 
to their eternal significance, not according to their super-terrestrial 
point of issue, and not according to their design and end in the other 
world. 

2. Church History (§ 194) also appears in a certain connec- 
tion with Sacred History, since the development of the Church 
3* 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

depends on, and is sustained by, the indwelling in it of the Spirit 
of God. There is, nevertheless, a distinction between the two ; 
the former is not a part of Sacred History, merely occupying a 
place appropriately its own, but is, in its whole character, distinct 
and independent. The Spirit of God operates energetically and 
victoriously in the Church, enlightens, gathers, protects and sanc- 
tifies it; this influence, however, is not direct or immediate, but 
is exercised through the means of grace, (§ 186-190). The pur- 
poses and action of the two are also different ; it is an essential 
characteristic of Sacred History, that it reveals God directly and 
immediately, as he advances in connection with it and unfolds 
himself in his deeds, which contemplate man's salvation. It is 
the office of the Church, on the contrary, to communicate and 
appropriate to all nations and individuals this divine element 
which has already intervened and been completed, or the fruits 
of the immediate divine action hitherto maintained and combined 
with human agency. They differ in their sources also; for 
Church History derives its materials from sources of knowledge 
which are merely human, while those of Sacred History are fur- 
nished by the Holy Scriptures. 

3. A common ground is occupied to .a greater extent than in 
the former cases, by Sacred History, on the one hand, and the 
Doctrines of religion, systematically arranged^ on the other. 
The knowledge of the divine counsel is the subject of both. In 
the former, however, the conception of the origin and of the suc- 
cessive unfolding of that counsel, obtains the most prominent 
position, while, in the latter, it recedes from the view. History 
and Doctrine sustain the same relation to each other which exists 
between the knowledge of the process according to which an 
event is prepared, and the knowledge of the event when its 
occurrence has actually taken place. Sacred History, accordingly, 
contemplates the facts which refer to man's salvation, in their 
progress ; the doctrine exhibits them as they appear after their 
occurrence; it collects the results of divine revelations of all 
former periods, arranges them, and presents them in a harmo- 
nious and regular system, while the former describes the action 

* See the [author's] Christliche Religionslehre — 5th ed. 1853 — » 
companion to the present work. 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

of God in gradually enlarging the revelations which ultimately 
furnish those results. 

§ 7. Characteristic Features of Sacred History. 

1. The distinguishing feature of Sacred History is God's pro- 
gressive revelation of himself, when he deposits a divine form, 
power and intelligence in the creature, for the purpose of enabling 
it to reach the end assigned to it by the divine counsel. Mani- 
festations of God (theophany), miracles and prophecy, conse- 
quently, are so essentially necessary to Sacred History, that it 
ceases to be Sacred, when these disappear, and can resume that 
title only when they again appear in history. 

2. A manifestation of God occurs already when he tempo- 
rarily appears in human form; the most perfect instance, how- 
ever, is the Incarnation (Ivaapxurtif) of God, or the essential, per- 
sonal and permanent adoption of human nature. In such a 
manifestation of God, divine power and intelligence are not yet 
deposited in human nature, but operate in connection with human 
action ; on the other hand, when the power to work miracles and 
to utter predictions is imparted, the divine power and intelligence 
unite with human nature, which is made subservient to them. 
The communication of such a gift to man is, consequently, 
already an approach to the incarnation of God, and the normal 
development of Sacred History demands that, at its commence- 
ment, miracles and prophecy should not yet appear as gifts, and 
that manifestations of God should frequently take place; but 
that, during its continued progress, the converse should occur, 
until all, advanced to the highest degree, appear in union in the 
Incarnation of God. 

3. A miracle is an evidence of the indwelling of divine power 
in history, and prophecy, of the indwelling of divine knowledge ; 
the action of God in the former is manifested in facts, in the 
latter, in word and doctrine ; the former is designed to elevate, 
strengthen and advance man's will and power of action, the latter, 
his knowledge and intelligence. Neither of the two can, con- 
sistently with the divine plan, destroy or disturb the liberty or 
development of man ; which would be the result, if they were 
deposited in man, in their entire divine fulness, already at the 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

commencement of history, or at any intermediate stage, without 
regard to the progress of development characterizing a certain 
period, or without special consideration of human wants, capa- 
cities and circumstances existing at a particular period. Miracles 
and prophecy advance in history according to the principle of 
gradual development. 

4. It is the pre-eminent design of prophecy (for any other is 
subordinate in its character) both to furnish the age to which it 
is given with a knowledge of itself, that is, of its position and 
obligations, and also to render the same service to every suc- 
ceeding age, in so far as its condition, wants and obligations are 
similar to those of the former. Now, as one age is as much the 
fruit of the past as it is the germ of the future, the full compre- 
hension of its position and obligations calls for information 
respecting both the past and the future. It is the office of pro- 
phecy to furnish this information ; but, as the solution of the real 
and most difficult problems of the present time is obviously found 
in the developments of the future, prophecy directs its view par- 
ticularly to the future. 

Obs. — Prophecy designs, by means of its divine knowledge, to 
inform the generation of men to whom it is given, respecting both 
their present acquisitions, and also their actual ivants, for the purpose 
of guiding them alike in the right employment of the former, and in an 
earnest search after all that must yet be acquired, before their wants 
are supplied. It does not, however, dwell on every aspect which the 
future may present, as such a course would hinder, in place of pro- 
moting, the free development of man, and destroy history ; neither 
does it design to reveal, indiscriminately, any feature of the future 
which might incidentally attract attention ; its sole task is to present 
those developments of the future, of which the germs, the origin, or 
the first principles, are already at hand. It prepares the way for 
history, and designs to show the issue to which the age wherein it is 
given, can, or will, or should tend. Prophecy proceeds with history, 
and is enlarged, not by an external increment, but by the develop- 
ment of its own contents through, the medium of that divine prin- 
ciple of life, which was originally implanted in it, and which, like a 
germ, contains in itself the fulness of all essential developments. 

5. Every history which, after originating in a source that im- 
parts life, is maintained by an internal principle of life, and 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

which, amid all the developments and hinderances that mark its 
progress, nevertheless, reaches its appointed end, assumes a 
typical character — that is, at every successive stage this great end 
may be recognized and defined with increased distinctness. The 
principle of life by which it is animated, continually struggles to 
assume a definite shape, and when it possesses sufficient energy 
to reach its appointed end amid all the difficulties which it 
encounters, it will, also, have succeeded, during the previous or 
intermediate stages of development, in occupying certain summits 
or prominent points of action ; these furnish to that particular 
stage of development to which they belong, certain manifestations, 
in different degrees of distinctness, of the great idea which is to 
be shown in its reality, when the last and highest degree of 
development has been reached ; such a point is, consequently, a 
prefiguration, or foreshadowing, or type of the future completion. 
The typical form which the (normal) development of Sacred 
History assumes, consequently, belongs pre-eminently to it. 

Obs. — This typical character is, by no means, foreign from Pro- 
fane History, which will assume it in proportion to the degree in 
which it is animated by the principle of life ; still, it is more or less 
obliterated, because the development which bears it, is limited to the 
mere creature. It will, on the contrary, exhibit far more distinct 
and striking features, and appear in bolder outlines in Sacred His- 
tory, insomuch that it may be recognized not only by succeeding 
ages, when it is compared with the fulfilment, but also by that age 
in which it occurs, through the aid of prophecy, according to the 
particular measure of intelligence of the age. For it is one and the 
same divine counsel which sustains and animates Sacred History, 
and which, giving form and character to every stage of development, 
imprints its own mark on each successive stage, as far as history is 
capable of receiving it. When, therefore, any man of God, for in- 
stance, who is intimately connected with the kingdom of God, carries 
its development to a higher stage, he becomes to his own age, in his 
position and according to his abilities, an image of Him who con- 
ducts all things to ultimate completion. In the same manner, all 
historical events, arrangements and institutions, which exercise a 
decidedly important influence on the progress of the kingdom of 
God, are types of future facts connected with the salvation of man 
in its final results. 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

§ 8. Epochs in the Chronology of Sacred History. 

1. Sacred History commences with the creation of the world, 
that is, of the earth and man, its inhabitant, and terminates with 
the establishment of man in his most perfect state and abode, 
through the resurrection and the judgment. It comprehends a 
double development : the original, commenced at the creation, 
and disturbed by the Fall — and that development which was re- 
newed through the counsel of redemption, and which, sustained 
by an abiding divine revelation, is in the course of being con- 
summated. The latter is contemplated by that salvation in 
Christ for which the way was opened, or preparation was made, 
in the old covenant, and which was accomplished and is appro- 
priated in the new covenant. 

Obs. — That development which still belongs to futurity, and is 
not yet manifested, is to be supplied from Prophecy, which contains 
its most important points. 

2. The Chronology of the Scriptures, particularly of the Old 
Testament, presents so many difficulties, that a calculation of 
dates, perfectly correct and entitled to general adoption, can 
scarcely be expected. Nevertheless, the variations in the dates 
presented by the several chronological systems which have been 
proposed, are not, in general, of a serious character. The Scrip- 
tures furnish the following definite chronological points : — 1. The 
Deluge, 1656 years after the creation of Adam. 2. Birth of 
Abraham, 2008. 3. Jacob emigrated to Egypt, 2298. 4. Ex- 
odus of the Hebrews from Egypt, after sojourning there 430 
years, 2728, (Exod. 12 : 40). 5. Building of the temple, 480 
years after the Exodus (1 Kings, 6 : 1), in the fourth year of 
Solomon's reign, 3208. 6. Death of Solomon, 36 years after- 
wards, 3244. 7. From Solomon's death to the fourth year of 
Jehoiakim, in which the 70 years of the Babylonian Captivity 
begin (by simply adding 375, that is, the number of years 
during which the kings of Judah reigned), 3619. 8. The end 
of the Captivity, in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, 3689. 
9. Death of Cyrus (seven years after the return of the captives), 
occurring 3696 years after the creation of Adam, that is, 529 
years before the Christian Era. According to this view ; 4225 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

years intervene between the creation of Adam and the Christian 
Era; but as the Scriptures mention whole numbers only, and not 
parts of years, it is possible that errors, amounting to several 
decades of years, may occur in the above. According to the 
Septuagint (§ 113. 2. Obs.) which, in the earlier portions, usu- 
ally furnishes higher numbers than the Hebrew text, the Creation 
occurred about 1500 years earlier than the date indicated by the 
latter. 



DIVISION A. 

THE CKEATION AND THE FALL OF MAN. 

§ 9. The Creation. 

Gen. chap. I. (Ps. 104.) — "In the beginning God created 
the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and 
void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep : and the 
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The earth 
and the works of God in it, were finished in six days by the al- 
mighty word of God. On the first day, the light, on which all 
terrestrial life depends, was called forth and divided from the 
darkness; on the second, the waters which were above, or the 
clouds (compare Gen. 8:2; Ps. 104 : 3 ; 148 : 4 ; Job 26 : 8), 
were divided by the firmament from the waters which were below. 
The waters and the land were separated, and the latter was fur- 
nished with plants of all kinds, on the third day. On the fourth, 
the sun, the moon, and the stars, took their places in the firma- 
ment of the heaven as lights, or bearers of the light previously 
created, and were appointed to "be for signs, and for seasons, and 
for days, and years." Every living creature that moveth in the 
waters, and every fowl that flieth above the earth, were created 
on the fifth day; on the sixth, the beast of the earth, cattle, and 
every creeping thing, and, lastly, the first human pair, were cre- 
ated. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, 
it was very good." On the seventh day he rested from all his 

(36) 



THE CREATION AND THE FALL OF MAN. 37 

work which he had made, and sanctified it as a day of rest for 
man.* 

Observation 1. — The pagan nations of antiquity considered God 
and the world to be one and the same, and, accordingly, had no 
knowledge either of an existence of God independently of the world, 
or of a creation of the world from nothing; we find that, on the 
contrary, that nation which was appointed to be the vehicle of Sacred 
History until the fulness of the time was come, from the beginning 
possessed a clear and accurate knowledge of the truth that the world 
is not eternal, but originated in time and with time, and that God, 
who is himself infinitely exalted above the world, and who existed 
eternally before the world, created it from nothing, by the power of 
his will, which was expressed in his word: "God said, Let there be 

, and it was so." But, on the other hand, the knowledge of the 

triune being of God, and of his relation to the Creation, is first of all 
acquired with distinctness through the New Testament, after the Son 
took on him the nature of man' in Christ, and the Holy Spirit was 
poured out upon all flesh. We learn from it that the world was 
created of the Father, by the Son, unto (d$ avtoV, "in him") the 
Spirit: "To us there is but one God, the Father, of (i|) whom are 
all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
(81 ov) are all things, and we by him." 1 Cor. 8:6. — "Of him (if 
aw-tov), and through him (81 avtov), and to him (els; avtov) are all 
things." Rom. 11 : 36. — "In the beginning was the Word (6 ^yog), 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. — All things 
were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that 
was made." John 1 : 1, 3. Compare Col. 1 : 15, 16; Ileb. 1 : 2, 3. 
It is true, that the Old Testament, even in its earliest periods, con- 
tains intimations of a creative Word of God (in the history of the 
creation), as well as of visible manifestations of God (in the history 
of the patriarchs — (see g 26. 2. Obs). Ifc refers, likewise, to a life- 
giving Spirit of God, for, in the history of the creation, the Spirit 
of God is moving, as if incubating, or animating and calling forth 
life in the new, inanimate, unarranged creation; at a later period, 
references to an enlightening Spirit also occur. But the personal 
self-subsistence, and the distinction between these forms of life in 

* For fuller details belonging to the history of this primitive period, 
see the [author's] two works: Bibel und Astronomie, &c, 3d ed., Berlin, 
1852, and Beitrdge zur Vertheidigung u. B. der Einheit des Pentateuchs, &c, 
Konigsb. 1843, and also [his] Treatise : Zur Geschichte der Urwelt, pub- 
lished in the Ev. Kirchenz. 1816, Nos. 36-39, and Nos. 69-71. 
4 



38 THE CREATION AND 

the divine being, had not yet been perceived ; they acquired, how 
ever, increased distinctness (see \ 46. Obs. 2.) in the same degree in 
which the development of the Old Testament approached its term, 
namely, the incarnation of the Son, and the out-pourjng of the Spirit, 
and this advance appears especially in the predictions of the pro- 
phets respecting both events. 

Obs. 2. — In the progress of Sacred History, we meet with other 
creatures, which possess a spiritual nature, or are free, and endowed 
with self-consciousness. They are called Angels (oyystot), and 
appear as messengers and ministers of God, in ethereal forms, 
resembling the light (Matt, 28 : 3. Ps. 104 : 4). Sexuality and 
the propagation of their kind, do not occur in their case (Matt. 22 : 
30). The Scriptures afford no information respecting the precise 
period of their creation. But as they are, according to Job, 38 : 7, 
declared by the Lord to have been the admiring witnesses of the 
works which were made during the six days of creation, their own 
origin necessarily preceded that of the earth and man ; and, as they 
are placed, in the same passage, in connection with the morning 
stars, their abode may, possibly, be understood to be in the higher 
celestial regions. From this view the inference may be deduced that 
the stars were made before the earth was, but that the character and 
relation which they sustain in reference to the earthy were assigned to 
them on the fourth day of the creation. 

§ 10. Position and Destination of Man. 

1. Gen. 2 : 4-7. — "Let us make man/' said God, "in our 
image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion — over 
every living thing — and over all the earth. — So God created man 
in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Gen. 
1 : 26-28. "And the Lord formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and 
man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7); that is, an animated 
soul, filled with the Spirit of God. The origin of man is, there- 
fore, two-fold : in one aspect, he belongs, in regard to his body 
and soul, to nature (animal nature), of which he constitutes the 
head ; in the other, he is elevated above nature, in as far as a 
godlike spirit, the breath of God, dwells in him, and he is the 
"offspring" of God (Acts 17 : 28, 29). In consequence of this 
two-fold character, he constitutes the connecting link between 



THE FALL OF MAN. 39 

God and nature. He is appointed to have dominion over nature, 
as the representative of God, and to conduct it to its highest deve- 
lopment ; his authority is derived from the image of God in which 
he was made. 

Obs. — The divine breath of life which was breathed into man, 
exalted his nature, and imprinted on it the divine image. Man -was, 
in this mode, appointed and authorized to be or to become like unto 
God, in holiness and blessedness, in wisdom, might and glory, in so 
far as the limits which circumscribe him as a creature, may admit, 
and in so far as his destination to be the representative of God on 
earth, may require. 

2. Gen. 2 : 8-15. God planted a garden in the land of Eden, 
and assigned it to man as his abode ) four streams proceeded from 
it, the Euphrates, Hiddekel (the Tigris), Gihon, and Pison. 
These statements, in combination with others, indicate the high 
table-land of Armenia ; the two unknown streams may, possibly, 
be the Phasis and the Araxes. — The powers of man were 
intended, agreeably to the divine appointment, to be engaged in 
exercising dominion over all the earth. He was commanded to 
commence in the place in which God had originally established 
him, and, as the first exercise of his powers, the task was assigned 
to him of tilling (Gen. 2 : 5) and of guarding the garden in 
Eden, which acts present the positive and negative aspects of 
dominion. While he was appointed to continue and complete 
the work which God had commenced (Gen. 2 : 8) in immediate 
reference to Paradise, his action was not intended to be always 
limited to Paradise ; in virtue of the divine blessing : " multiply, 
and replenish the earth " (Gen. 1 : 28), his sphere of action was 
designed to expand continually, until all the earth should belong 
to Paradise. 

3. Man was not, immediately at the creation, advanced to the 
highest degree of excellence which he was capable of attaining 
according to the divine purpose, but the germ of all his subse- 
quent developments was already deposited in him. As he was 
raised by his godlike spirit above mere nature, which was insus- 
ceptible of freedom, it was not that development which the plant 
receives, when sustained by external supplies, which was intended 
to characterize him ; he was, rather, designed to determine and 



40 THE CREATION AND 

develop himself in correspondence to the divine appointment and 
authorization, by his own free resolution and his free action ; in 
these circumstances, however, it also became possible that his 
own determination might deviate from the divine appointment, 
and that he might enter into another and an ungodly path of 
development. The opportunity and the inducement to engage in 
a course of development were, primarily, furnished to him by the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by the prohibition 
to eat of it, connected with the warning that disobedience would 
be punished with death. (Gen. 2 : 17). 

Obs. — The holiness of man, when he was originally created, did 
not consist in an impossibility on his part to commit sin (non posse 
peccare) — this was the great end, and not the beginning of the de- 
velopment which God appointed. Neither did it consist merely in 
the ability to refrain from sinning (posse non peceare), implying 
that the original state of man was neither good nor evil — for, in that 
case, he would not have sustained an actual loss through the fall, 
but simply have failed to obtain somewhat that was designed for 
him. On the contrary, it consisted in a positive disposition and ten- 
dency towards all that is good, in such a sense, however, that these 
were appointed to be further developed, not of themselves and by a 
natural necessity, but through free self-determination, choice and 
co-operation. Now, if man had not eaten of the tree of knowledge, 
that is, if he had, from the beginning, determined himself in con- 
formity to the divine will, his original holiness, given to him at his 
creation, as a germ and a source of qualifications, would have, in 
that case, developed itself as a holiness voluntarily chosen, or chosen 
by himself, and set forth in action ; and, in his further progress in 
this path, it would have perfected the ability to refrain from sin, by 
elevating it into an impossibility to commit sin. Then, too, the tree 
of life would have attained the end for which it was placed in the 
midst of the garden. (Gen. 2 : 9.) 

4. Gen. 2 : 18-25. — The wisdom and knowledge bestowed on 
Adam at his creation, required, like his holiness, further develop- 
ment. The occasion for it was furnished, when every beast and 
every fowl were brought before him, for the purpose of receiving 
appropriate names. For, the knowledge of nature, which, with- 
out a consciousness of it on his part, had been deposited in him 
by the Creator in an undeveloped state, now finds an opportunity 



THE FALL OF MAN. 41 

to become distinct in his soul, and to be unfolded; at the same 
time the ability to use the organs of speech is developed, and 
appears as freedom or facility in the use of language. On this 
occasion, also, on which his vassals seemed to do him homage, as 
they were brought before him, his actual assumption of authority 
over the animal world was the first unfolding of the right of do- 
minion granted to him through the image of God. And, on the 
same occasion, he became aware that he possessed no help meet 
for him, or adapted to himself, and endowed with a nature essen- 
tially resembling his own. The Lord supplied this want ; " he 
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam ; and he took one of his 
ribs — and the rib — made he a woman. — And Adam said (when 
he awoke) : This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. " 
Herewith was connected the divine blessing : " Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." This divine 
blessing conveyed to man authority to represent the divine omni- 
presence also, as far as his nature and great end, by which he 
was restricted to the earth, would admit, since this privilege was 
necessarily involved in the divine image in which he was made. 

Obs. — The creation of woman out of the substance of man, and 
the institution of marriage as its result, constitute the necessary con- 
dition and commencement of the whole historical development of 
the human race ; such a divine procedure, harmonizing, as it neces- 
sarily must, vrith right views on the part of man, with equal neces- 
sity, preceded the free, moral self-determination of man for or against 
the will of God. By such a course God " made of one blood all na- 
tions of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17 : 26), 
and man was enabled to comply with the injunction : " to replenish 
the earth and subdue it." Marriage was, accordingly designed, not 
to facilitate the fall of man by his own fault, but to serve, agreeably 
to the divine will, as the means of promoting not only the physical, 
but also the moral and religious development of man. In order that 
the human race might form a community organically united by "one 
blood," it was not, already at the beginning, a multitude of indi 
viduals, without sex, like the angels, (Matt. 22 : 30). Hence it is 
true, not only that on the one hand, if the first man should fall, the 
guilt and desert of condemnation of the whole race would be occa- 
sioned, but also, that, on the other hand, the possibility of redemp- 
tion could exist, depending on the Redeemer's participation of this 
community of blood. 



42 THE CREATION AND 

§ 11. The Fall 

1. Gen. 3 : 1. — But evil is already present; a creature exists 
that fell from its Creator, and now opposes hirn by endeavors to 
destroy his work, and to frustrate the counsel of his love respect- 
ing the human race. It already appears here, in the serpent which 
" was more subtle than any beast of the field. " It approaches 
man, for the purpose of seducing him from his God and Creator, 
and involving him in the snares of its own ruin. 

Obs. 1. — This hostile power of darkness appears, at first, as a 
fearful mystery, the solution or knowledge of which was reserved for 
a more advanced stage of development ; the complete explanation 
may, indeed, be still reserved for the final stage of development. 
This power is a personal, spiritual being, a creature, originally good 
and holy, when formed by its Creator, like those sons of God who 
shouted for joy, when God laid the foundations of the earth. Job 
38 : 4, 7. (See g 9, Obs. 2.) One of those beings, namely, which 
were first created, abused his liberty, and did not abide in the truth. 
John 8 : 44. He did not keep his first estate (Jude, ver. 6), and, in 
his fall, carried with him others who resembled him, and who form a 
kingdom of darkness under him, as the prince of darkness. He is 
termed Satan, as the adversary of God, and the Devil (i. e. §ux$G%o$) i 
as the accuser of men, Job 1:9; 2:4; Rev. 12 : 10; Christ terms 
him a murderer from the beginning {cuvO^rcoxtovog ax' olp^s'h an d the 
father of lies (John 8 : 44) ; and he is elsewhere called " that old ser- 
pent — which deceiveth the whole world. " (Rev. 12 : 9.) — The cir- 
cumstance that "the earth was without form, and void" (Gen. 1 : 2) 
before the six days of creation, may, possibly, be ascribed to the fall 
of the angels. 

Obs. 2. — Man is, accordingly, at his creation, in possession of 
sufficient means and powers to gain the victory, and receives instruc- 
tions from God in terms alike of warning and of threatening, (Gen. 
2 : 15, 17). But it is also in his power to despise the voice of God, 
alike when it tenderly warns and when it authoritatively threatens, 
and to yield to the attraction of the tempter's voice — his self-deter- 
mination may differ from the will of God (§ 10, 3). The omniscient 
God, it is true, is previously acquainted with the issue : although he 
knows that the temptation will prevail over man, he permits it to 
occur. His will allows this course of events to proceed, since it leads 
to that crisis in man's free determination which was necessary ; and 
this permission is not inconsistent with his designs respecting the 



THE FALL OF MAN. 43 

human race, since he has already provided means and opened a way, 
in the eternal counsel of his wisdom and grace, for raising fallen 
man and leading him, even after the fall, to the appointed end. 
(2 14) 

2. Gen. 3 : 2-6. — When the tempter presents himself to man, 
he first awakens doubts respecting the word of God, by exhibiting 
it in an exaggerated form, and obliterating the distinction be- 
tween the divine permission and prohibition, verse 1. After this 
device has proved to be unsuccessful, he at once charges God with 
envy and falsehood, and, at last, unfolds the whole power of Sa- 
tanic art, and with a lie mingles elements of truth, in the 
promise : "Your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, 
knowing good and evil." And man permitted himself to be en- 
snared; the tempter succeeded in planting ungodly lust in his 
soul, and the progress of the first sin now resembles that of every 
sin since committed : " When lust hath conceived, it br in geth forth 
sin; and sin, ichen it is finished, bringeih forth death." (James 
1 : 15.) The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and 
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make 
one wise, (that is, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, 
and the pride of life" (1 John 2 : 16), which proceed from the 
hell-enkindled fire of ungodly lust), and she took of the fruit of 
the tree, and did eat ; and gave also unto her husband with her, 
and he did eat. 

Obs. — The tempter turned to the woman, as the weaker vessel ; 
after her fall, the man practically interpreted the words: "A man 
shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife" 
(Gen. 2: 24), which received the divine sanction (see Matt. 19: 5), 
in an unnatural sense, as if they inculcated the Satanic wickedness 
that a man should leave his God and Lord also, and cleave unto his 
wife. The fact that man was formed of the dust of the ground, 
places in a distinct light the folly and guilt of that self-exaltation, 
which leads him to wish to be as God, while he is without God. 

§ 12. The Consequences of the Fall. 

1. Gen. 3 : 7. — The declaration of the tempter was fulfilled, 
not in the sense in which it had been received by man, but in the 
sense in which the crafty tempter pronounced it. The eyes of 



44 THE CREATION AND 

both were opened (ver. 7), but they saw nothing except their 
nakedness and misery. They did become as God (ver. 22) ; that 
is, Adam ceased to be the image and representative of God, and 
acquired a position of his own, or became his own God and Lord. 
Such a resemblance to God, however, did not render him blessed 
as God is, but poor and wretched in the highest degree. He 
did , indeed, now know good and evil, but only through his 
painful experience of his want of that which is good, and of the 
existence of evil and all its results. Still, craftiness is caught in 
its own snare ; the tempter had mocked man, the image of God, 
with Satanic irony, and the Lord now has him in derision (Ps. 
2 : 4), in so overruling all, that the Devil foretold his own 
judgment and ruin in those equivocal words. For they acquire, 
through the divine counsel of redemption a third sense, which 
did not occur to the tempter : the fall of man led to the Redemp- 
tion, in which God became as man, in order that man might truly 
become as God, in the full sense of the term. (John 17 : 11, 21, 
23; 2 Pet. 1:4; Uohn3:2; 1 Cor. 15:49.) 

2. Gen. 3 : 8, sqq.— The long-suffering of God, and the evil 
conscience of man are both manifested in the trial of the guilty. 
Adam imputes the fault to the woman whom God had given to 
be with him, and she transfers it to the serpent. The curse 
(ver. 14, 15) falls upon the serpent, as the organ of the tempta- 
tion, and, through it, on the tempter: " Because thou hast done 
this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of 
the field : upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat 
all the days of thy life (Isai. 65 : 25). And I will put enmity 
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : 
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" 

Obs. — It cannot be reasonably doubted that the Scriptural account 
of the fall connects with the serpent the action of an evil being who 
is a spirit; the manner, on the other hand, in which the sacred 
writer conceived the demoniac will to have employed the agency of 
the serpent, is not explained. The account contains the recollections 
and views of the first human pair, preserved as sacred and venerable 
relics of the primitive age. The curse, which falls on the serpent, 
applies, in its external form, to the serpent alone. But the curse is 
pronounced for the sake of man, and not of the serpent ; it is accord- 



THE FALL OF MAN. 45 

ingly, adapted to the view which man then took, and which did not 
yet discriminate between the visible appearance and the spiritual 
principle of temptation. To man the tempter appeared as a serpent; 
in his view, accordingly, the curse which was directed against the 
serpent really appeared as a curse of the author of sin, and the de- 
feat and destruction of the serpent, through the seed of the woman, 
was regarded as a deliverance from the power and influence of the 
author of sin. See § 14. 

3. According to the sentence of the Judge, the woman shall 
bring forth in sorrow, and the man shall eat bread in the sweat 
of his face (§ 14. Obs. 2). — In every direction man encountered 
sorrow, pain and labor, and, after enduring them, encounters 
death, by which the creature of the dust, which presumptuously 
desired to become its own God, returns to the dust. Nature 
itself shares, on man's account, in the curse of man's sin : thorns 
and thistles shall the ground bring forth; the fall of the Lord 
and Euler of the animal world, doubtless, exercised on it, like- 
wise, a disturbing influence, leading to the development of a 
savage nature. The Lord, besides, drove man out of the garden 
of Eden (ver. 24), and at its entrance placed the Cherubim and 
the flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of 
the tree of life, "lest he put forth his hand — and eat thereof, 
and live forever." (§ 14. Obs. 2.) 

Obs. 1. — The Cherubim or Cherubs are, as we here learn, not mere 
symbols or creatures of the imagination, but real and personal be- 
ings, and, doubtless, constitute a particular order of angels. They 
appear, elsewhere, as the bearers, attendants and representatives of 
the kingly and judicial presence of God in his creation (Ps. 18 : 10; 
Exod. 25 : 17-22 ; Ezek. 1 : 5, sqq. ; 10 : 1, sqq. ; Rev. 4 : 6, sqq.) ; they 
may be regarded as forming the living and moving throne, on which 
the divine majesty is enthroned and conveyed. The representation 
of these beings, however, both in the tabernacle and in the visions 
of Ezekiel, according to which they appear in a terrestrial form, ar- 
tistically constructed, is altogether symbolical. According to the 
description of Ezekiel, they resemble, in part, a man, a lion, an ox, 
and an eagle. He evidently intends to represent them as a combina- 
tion of all the perfections which are singly found in the creatures 
that d\vell on the earth — for it is suitable to the majesty of God that 
its bearers and representatives should combine in themselves the 



46 THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN. 

perfections of all creatures. The flaming sicord which turned every 
way is, like the corresponding appearances of fire in Gen. 15 : 17 ; 
Exod. 3 : 2, 3 ; 13 : 21, and Ezek. 1 : 4, 13, 27, a symbol of the holi- 
ness of God, as well in its consuming as in its purifying aspect : in 
the present instance, it assumes in its expression of displeasure, ju- 
dicially, a punitive and repellent character. See £ 14. Obs. 3. 

Obs. 2. — "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die' 9 
Gen. 2 : 17. Man did eat, and death, the wages of sin (Rom. 6 : 23), 
entered into the world. Death is a separation of the constituents 
which form a union ; the immediate consequence of sin was the sepa- 
ration of man from God, that is, spiritual death. Now, as the attain- 
ment of the great end of man depended essentially on union with 
God, this disunion necessarily disturbed every other relation, and, 
specially, introduced bodily death, with a countless host of diseases; 
for when the soul depended on its own resources alone, it no longer 
possessed ability to maintain its own connection with the body per- 
manently. Sin was introduced into the nature of man, and cor- 
rupted his whole being; he became fleish. Now, as that which is 
born of the flesh can be nothing else but flesh again (John 3:6), in- 
asmuch as generation is a communication of the same nature, Adam's 
sinfulness was communicated to all his descendants, and the curse 
which lay on sin, accompanied it — bodily and spiritual death. (See 
Gen. 8 : 21 : Ps. 51:5; Eph. 2:3; Rom. 5 : 12, 18.) 



DIVISION B. 

REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



PART I. 

THE PLAN OF SALVATION, IN ITS INTRODUCTORY 

STAGES. 

§ 13. Man's Capability of being Redeemed. 

Man did not, like Satan, engender sin in himself, indepen- 
dently of any foreign influence ; it was, on the contrary, obtruded 
upon him externally, through temptation ; he possessed, however, 
ability to resist it, in compliance with his duty. His whole being 
was penetrated with sin, and poisoned by it, but was not itself 
converted into sin. An element remained in him, as well as in 
his descendants, which does not allow of sin, or find pleasure in it 
(Rom. 7 : 15, 16), but, on the contrary, accuses him of sin, and 
reproves him. (Rom. 2 : 14, 15.) A certain longing after God, 
deeply rooted even when it is unintelligible, dwells in the soul of 
fallen man, and his heart finds no peace till it reposes in God. 
Both his accusing conscience and his longing after communion 
with God, proceed from the divine image in him, which was, it is 
true, impaired, clouded and darkened by sin, but not entirely 
obliterated and destroyed (Gen. 9 : 6, and James 3 : 9), for man 
is, even after the fall, the " offspring" of God. (Acts 17 : 28.) 
Hence, however deeply he is fallen, he is" still capable of being 
redeemed. 

Obs. — That voice of longing, which bears witness alike of man's 
capability, and of his need, of redemption, and which may, in a cer- 
taiu sense, be regarded as a prediction of a future redemption, is 
also heard, like an echo of the longing and groaning of the human 
race, in the whole earthly creation which fell with and through 

(47) 



48 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

man. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the 
manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made sub- 
ject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath sub- 
jected the same in hope ; because the creature itself also shall be 
delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty 
of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now." (Rom. 8 : 19-22.) 

§ 14. The Divine Counsel of Redemption. 

It was not at the Fall that God first purposed to redeem man, 
for " he hath chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the 
world." (Eph. 1 : 4.) The fall of man was eternally known to the 
omniscient God ; nevertheless, he determined to create man, since 
he had also eternally purposed to redeem fallen man. Hence, the 
influence of this divine counsel appears in history immediately 
after the fall. The first manifestation of it occurs in the promise 
(Ttpwizvayyiuov) that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of 
the serpent. (Gen. 3 : 15.) In conformity to the divine equity, the 
deceiver is judged by the deceived (1 Cor. 6 : 8), the conqueror 
is overcome by the conquered. Although man had actually pro- 
nounced in favor of the will of Satan against the will of God, a 
different result is, nevertheless, to be yet produced by virtue of 
the divine counsel of redemption, and man's capability of being 
saved. Man is not made entirely subject to the will of Satan ; 
while sin implanted in him a principle of opposition to God, he 
retained since his creation a principle of opposition to the tempter 
also. God assigns to the latter the victory over the former, so 
that the union with Satan, to which man had assented, does not 
permanently remain. Friendship and union between the two 
shall not exist, but rather enmity and a continued warfare, which 
shall ultimately terminate in the defeat of the tempter. That the 
human race, as a whole (the seed of tho woman), shall maintain 
a contest with the author of sin, and destroy the kingdom which 
he has established, is the direct and primary sense of the divine 
promise. It was not yet expressed in this promise, but gradually 
became apparent in the progress of divine revelation, that one 
man, named, in a particular sense, the seed of the icoman and the 
Son of Man } was appointed to bring victory as the leader in this 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 49 

contest, and that this second Adam (§ 121. 2) would, necessarily, 
gain the victory, because at the same time " all the fulness of the 
Godhead dwelleth in him bodily." (Col. 2 : 9.) 

Obs. 1. — After this promise is given, Sacred History exhibits an 
unvarying tendency towards the great end indicated in the promise, 
namely, the manifestation of that Son of Man, in whom and through 
whom the counsel of God should be completely fulfilled. Sacred 
History commences in this promise an unbroken chain in the gene- 
ration of the seed of the woman, of which the last link is found in 
the birth of the second Adam (g 121. 1) ; as the new head of the 
human race, he is appointed to recommence the development which 
had been arrested by the fall, and conduct it to its perfect comple- 
tion ; hence history, as it appears in the Old Testament, is the pre- 
liminary history of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The way is 
prepared for it, or, rather, it is brought nearer in each successive 
generation in the line of promise : each is a nearer approach to this 
great end or ultimate point of history as far as the Old Testament is 
appointed to comprise it. The importance of the genealogical tables 
of the Old Testament, in general, may be hence readily perceived, 
and, particularly, of that genealogical line which pervades the whole 
Old Testament with peculiar distinctness, and extends from Adam to 
Christ. (See \ 124.) 

Obs. 2. — The mercy of God, which designs to prepare man for 
redemption, exerts its influence not only in the curse pronounced on 
the serpent, but also in the sentence of punishment which the ju- 
dicial severity of God declared in reference to man (§ 12, 2). Both 
that curse, and also the punishment inflicted on man, comprehend a 
benefit and a blessing also. If the woman shall bring forth children 
in sorrow, still, she shall bring forth — and it is, precisely, the seed 
of the woman which shall bruise the head of the serpent. The bless- 
ing involved in the curse does not seem to have been entirely hidden 
from Adam's view, since, in reference to it, he " called his wife's 
name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." (Gen. 3 : 20.) 
— Labor, performed in the sweat of the face, which is specially 
assigned to man, is a palliative and an antidote against the lust of 
sin, capable of preserving him from many transgressions. — Thus, 
too, even his expulsion from Paradise, " lest he eat of the tree of 
life, and live forever," and death also, involve both a penalty and a 
gracious gift. For, if man had eaten of that tree, his life on earth, 
burdened with a curse, with misery and corruption, would have 
become eternal, and he would have rendered its release from the 
5 



50 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

consequences of sin altogether impossible. Bodily death, on the other 
hand, which, without an intervening redemption, would have beeu a 
curse and eternal ruin alone, now also assumes, through that redemp- 
tion, the character of a blessing of immeasurable value. For it is 
through death alone that sinful man can attain to the resurrection ; 
the body is not " raised in incorruption," until it has been "sown in 
corruption." (1 Cor. 15 : 42; Phil. 3 : 21. See § 199.) 

Obs. 3. — The act of God in appointing the Cherubim "to keep 
the way of the tree of life" (Gen. 3 : 24) in the garden of Eden, 
(§ 12. 3, Obs. 1,) likewise appears not only in an aspect indicating 
judicial severity, but also in one which conveys a promise full of 
consolation. The blessed abode from which man is expelled, is 
neither annihilated nor even abandoned to desolation and ruin, but 
withdrawn from the earth and from man, and consigned to the cara 
of the most perfect creatures of God, in order that it may be ulti- 
mately restored to man when he is redeemed. (Rev. 22 : 2.) The 
garden, as it existed before God " planted" or adorned it, came under 
the curse, like the remainder of the earth, but the celestial and para- 
disiacal addition was exempted, and entrusted to the Cherubim. The 
true (ideal) Paradise is now translated to the invisible world. At 
least a symbolical copy of it, established in the Holy of holies in the 
tabernacle (§ 45) is already granted to the people of Israel, after the 
pattern which Moses saw in the mount, (Exodus 25 : 9, 40,) and the 
original itself, as the renewed habitation of redeemed man will here- 
after descend to the earth. (Rev. 21 : 10.) See § 201. 2, Obs. 



§ 15. Gradual Development of the Plan of Salvation. 

1. But why did not the promised redemption immediately ap- 
pear, in place of being delayed four thousand years, during which 
the way was prepared for it ? Because it was needful both that 
man should be prepared for salvation, and also that salvation 
should be prepared for man. As sin, in its origin, lay in the 
sphere of the free spirit, and not in mere nature, as far as the 
latter is insusceptible of intelligent freedom, it could not be at 
once abolished by a single effort of power; and salvation could 
not appear suddenly without due preparation. Since man had 
yielded to sin by his own free choice, it was not meet that he 
should accept of salvation through compulsion; now, in order 
that he might freely determine to accept of it, it was needful that 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 51 

he should receive an education which would lead to this result. 
According to this course of education, it was requisite that he 
should, primarily, acquire a knowledge of his sinfulness and of 
the misery which it produces — next, that he should become con- 
scious of his utter inability to aid himself by his own wisdom or 
strength — and that, thus, he should become fully aware of his 
need of a redemption from above, and ardently desire it. This 
precise point the human race, as a whole, could not reach, until 
it had long sought and labored in vain, long wandered in the ways 
of error, and endured manifold trials and chastisements of a disci- 
plinary nature. — On the other hand, the promised salvation itself 
could not, consistently, appear at once in a complete form. It is 
an unchanging law, applicable to all that has a beginning, that 
every manifestation of life in the creature should unfold itself in 
regular succession ; the plant, for instance, with its blossoms and 
its fruits, is gradually developed from the living germ. Thus, too, 
this great salvation is seen to take root in the period which pre- 
ceded the Christian era, before it appeared in full bloom in the 
Incarnation of Christ, and bore fruit in the Christian Church. 

Obs. — In this connection, while the point is considered that re- 
demption actually appeared to the world only after a period of pre- 
paration comprising 4000 years, another question assumes great im- 
portance : What was the true position of those individuals and gene- 
rations which had already, at the Christian era, left the scene of 
development which this world presents? — This necessity of a prepa- 
ration regularly conducted through thousands of years, properly 
applies to the race of man only as a whole. The salvation in ques- 
tion could be imparted to the individual in any preliminary stage, 
who relied in faith on the original foundation of salvation which was 
already laid after the fall, and who applied to himself in faith the 
amount of revealed truth that had been granted to his age. For, as the 
whole plant already lies potentially in the germ, so, also, the first 
6tage in the history of salvation included the whole salvation in it- 
self potentially, together with the assurance of a certain development 
and future completion. (See § 26. 1, Obs.) It is true that, after the 
Gentile world had withdrawn from the development contemplated in 
the history of salvation (§ 20. 1, Obs. 1,) this possibility of an appro- ' 
priation of salvation fully applies to the people of Israel alone. But 
even in the case of the Gentiles, God had " determined the times be- 



52 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

fore appointed," and afforded grounds of faith (Acts 17 : 26-28; 
Kom. 1 : 18-21) by the exercise of which they could not, it is true, 
attain to salvation itself, but still they could arrive at a certain mea- 
sure of capacity for it. To meet and complete this capacity, divine 
grace is, unquestionably, both willing and able to devise the means 
(See i 195. 1, Obs.) 

2. In company with this seed of salvation which is regular!} 
propagated, the seed of the tares which the enemy sowed, als<s 
thrives vigorously, bearing its accursed blossoms and fruit unti* 
the day of final judgment and final separation. (Matt. 13 : 24-30.) 
The evil also, which is present, is guided to a complete unfolding 
of itself, in order that all that it contains may be revealed, that 
the fearful self-deception in which it moves may stand forth un- 
veiled and exposed, and that it may ripen for its destruction and 
judgment. The unfolding of evil is its defeat; hence God not 
only endures the unfolding of evil, which steadily excludes itself 
from salvation, but also promotes and hastens it, that its judgment 
may arrive. (Exodus 9 : 12; Matt. 13 : 12; 2 Thess. 2 : 11.) 

Obs. — In the prominent points which occur in the development 
of salvation as it advances to its great end, certain types or prefigu- 
rations of a future still higher, or of the highest development, are 
presented (§ 7. 5) ; so, too, the prominent points in the development 
of evil, as it advances to its end, present prefigurations of its future 
maturity and completion. 



CHAPTER I. 

PROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE DELUGE. 

(To the year 1656, after the Creation of Man.) 

§ 16. Cain and Abel. — The Cainites and Sethites. 

1. Gen. 4 : 1-15. — Two opposite tendencies permanently sub- 
sist together in the human race, and are developed with increased 
distinctness in the progress of time, namely, submission to God in 
faith, and obstinate estrangement from God. The commencement 
and the prefigurations of both unfold themselves already in the 
first two sons of the first human pair. Eve joyfully exclaims at 
the birth of her first son : u I have gotten a man from the Lord/' 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 53 

and calls him Cain, (that is, gotten, or, acquired). She soon be- 
comes aware of her error, and calls her second son Abel, (that is, 
breath, vanity) Each brings an offering to the Lord — the 
former, of the fruit of the ground, the latter, of the firstlings of 
his flock. The offering of Abel, besides that it manifests, as a 
bloody sacrifice, a deeper religious feeling and desire, is brought 
in faith (Heb. 11 : 4), and therefore, the Lord had respect unto 
him and his offering The envy which now took possession of 
Cain impelled him, even after he had received a warning from 
the Lord, to become the murd.erer of his brother (1 John 3 : 
12). Abel's blood cries unto Heaven (Heb. 12 : 24), and Cain 
is cursed, and becomes a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. 

Obs. — A certain transaction — the offering of a sacrifice — occu- 
pies the threshold of the history of man after the fall, which con- 
tinued during four thousand years to be the central point of all divine 
worship ; it was the problem of ages, the full solution of which was 
not found, till it had reached its goal, in the fulness of the time, on 
Golgotha. It expresses the fundamental idea that a necessity exists 
of solving and reconciling the direct and positive opposition in which 
human sinfulness and divine holiness stand to each other. (See § 48, 
on the significance of sacrifices.) — Whence did this singular institu- 
tion proceed? What produced this agreement in the mode of wor- 
ship adopted by all the nations of antiquity without exception ? It 
may be supposed, according to a conjecture not unsupported by 
weighty considerations, to have originated in the divine appointment 
and instructions received by the human race in its infancy ; the in- 
terpretation which closely connects with it the circumstance that 
" the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed" Adam and Eve 
(Gen. 3 : 21), when they were ashamed of their nakedness (ver. 7, 
10), may, possibly, be well founded. (Isaiah 61 : 10.) 

2. Gen. 4 : 16-24. — Cain dwelt in the land of Nod. His 
descendants founded the kingdom of the world, as the opposite 
of the kingdom of God ) they invented the arts and pleasures of 
life, and deified themselves and their ancestors. Cain himself 
built the first city for his son Enoch. Lamech, the Cainite, in- 
troduced polygamy, boastingly confided in his own arm as his God, 
and, in his warlike song, appears as the first poet. His son Jabal - 
is the ancestor of the nomadic tribes which dwell in tents ; Jubal 
invented stringed and wind-instruments; Tubal-cain was skilled 

5* 



54 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

in the use of brass and iron, and Naamab, the daughter of Cain, 
according to tradition, first added ornaments to female apparel. 

3. Gen. 4 : 25 — 5 : 32. — It was, probably, soon after the 
death of Abel (ch. 4 : 25), that Adam, when he was 130 years 
of age, begat a son in his own likeness, whom he called Seth, 
(that is, appointed or put). He was put in the place of Abel, 
and was the ancestor of the race of the children of God which 
continued in the faith, and which included ten generations previ- 
ous to the Deluge : Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, 
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. Adam lived 930 years; 
Methuselah, whose age exceeded that of any other human being, 
lived 969 years. Enoch, u the seventh from Adatn" (Jude, ver. 
14), because he walked with God, by faith, was translated, that 
he should not see death, (Heb. 11 : 5). He preached concerning 
the coming of the Lord to execute judgment, Jude, ver. 15, 
(perhaps he prophesied concerning the deluge). Lamech, like 
Eve, expected to find in his son a comforter in his work and toil 
on the ground, which the Lord had cursed, and hence called him 
Noah, (that is, rest or comfort). (He probably hoped to find in 
the tenth generation the fulfilment of the ancient promise, since, 
according to established opinions, the number ten represented a 
completion or a conclusion.) The life of Adam extended to the 
fifty-sixth year of Lamech; (Shem, the grandson of the latter, 
survived Abraham 50 years). 

Obs. — The longevity which is characteristic of this period, arising, 
in part, from the circumstance that the strength of the primitive 
generations was less impaired than in the case of their successors, 
and that the primitive power of antediluvian native was not yet en- 
tirely broken, is to be ascribed chiefly to the purpose of God to 
furnish the earth the more speedily with inhabitants. 

§ 17. The Deluge. 

1. Gen. ch. 6. — While men began to multiply with wonderful 
rapidity, during the long period of life granted to them, ungodli- 
ness began to prevail in the same degree. The fathers, in the 
Sethitic line, who walked in faith, were the salt of the earth. 
The "sons of God" (usually understood io be the Sethites), saw 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 55 

the " daughters of men" (usually interpreted as the daughters of 
Cain), that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which 
they chose. From these ungodly espousals proceeded arrogant, 
violent, and wicked men (Nephilim, " giants"); wickedness and 
violence at length so generally prevailed, that only one man was 
found who had kept the faith : Noah, " a preacher of righteous- 
ness." (2 Pet. 2 : 5.) The long-suffering of God waited 120 
years for the repentance of men. In the meanwhile, Noah built 
the ark, according to the command of God, and made it 300 cu- 
bits in length, 50 cubits in breadth, and 30 cubits in height. But 
men were not led to repentance; " they were eating and drinking, 
marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered 
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them 
all away" (Matt. 24 : 38, 39), — a warning and a type of the day 
of judgment. 

Obs. — "It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth." 
(Gen. 6 : 6.) Repentance implies, first, a painful consciousness that 
the result does not correspond to the design, and, secondly, an ardent 
desire to be able to annul the past, and to commence anew. So far, 
a certain analogy may be traced between the divine and human re- 
pentance. They differ essentially herein, that the perverse result is 
at no time and in no mode occasioned by God, and that he always 
possesses the means to annul the past, and to commence anew. In 
this instance, he arrested the course in which the creatures of his 
hand proceeded, by the judgment of the Deluge, and commenced 
anew in Noah, as the second ancestral head of the human race. 

2. Gen. 7 : 1 — 8 : 14. — In obedience to the command of 
God, Noah entered the ark, together with his wife, his three sons, 
Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their wives. He also took with 

him " of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort ■ 

male and female (6 : 19), but of every clean beast "by sevens" 
(7 : 2), probably for sacrificial purposes (8 : 20) ; the. necessary 
supply of food was also secured (6 : 21), and the Lord then "shut 
him in." (7 : 16.) The Deluge commenced in the six hundredth 
year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of 
the month — in the year of the world 1656. The waters rose 15 
cubits above the highest mountains, and "all in whose nostrils 
was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." 



56 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

(7 : 22.) The Deluge extended through the space of a year; 
the ark, at length, rested on Ararat, a ridge of mountains in 
Armenia. 

Obs. 1. — The capacity of the ark was 3,600,000 cubic feet; if we 
assign nine-tenths of this space to the food which was stored, and 
allow 54 cubic feet, on an average, for each pair of animals (three 
feet in each direction, length, breadth and height, for each animal), 
sufficient space remained for nearly 7000 species. No fish, insects 
or worms were included ; all the varieties may be referred to species, 
and the species now claimed as belonging to a genus, may, perhaps 
in many cases, be reduced in number. The gathering of the animals 
was facilitated by their own instinct ; even now, a certain presenti- 
ment of an approaching catastrophe in nature occasionally leads 
them to seek the neighborhood of man ; besides, a difference of cli- 
mate did not exist before the Flood. A mass of water equal to the 
two-hundred-and-seventy-second part of the mass of the earth would 
be sufficient to envelope the globe with a covering of water rising to 
a vast height above the level of the sea. 

Obs. 2. — Traditions of a general deluge are found among all na- 
tions, exhibiting, in most instances, a surprising agreement with the 
scriptural narrative. These traditions introduce statements which 
render it easy to recognise the Noah of whom the Bible speaks, in 
the righteous Manu (elsewhere called Satyavrata, with his three 
sons, Scherma, Charma, and Jyapeti) of India, in Xisuthrus (the 
tenth king after Alorus) of Chaldea, in Osiris of Egypt, in Fohi of 
China, and in Deucalion of Greece. Coins of the Phrygian city of 
Apamea (of the third century) represent the Flood in a mode which 
resembles the scriptural account, and, besides, exhibit the letters 
N&. Traditions, preserving a similarly striking correspondence, are 
also found among the Peruvians, Mexicans, Greenlanders, &c. 

Obs. 3. — Geology also furnishes the most decisive evidence of a 
general Flood. The surface of the earth exhibits a deposite which, 
succeeded a universal and mighty flood, and which, consequently, 
has received the appellation of diluvial land. 

Vast quantities of bones and teeth of ante-diluvian animals, masses 
of rock and boulders, carried onward by the flood, are found in this 
diluvial portion. Masses of granite, often of immense size, and evi- 
dently derived from the elevated regions of Scandinavia, are spread 
over Northern Germany and the regions adjoining the Baltic Sea, 
and can have been transported thither by a mighty flood alone (pos- 
sibly on fields of ice). Thus, too, the flood carried rocks of immenso 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 57 

size from Mt. Blanc to the Jura mountains. It deposited quantities 
of bones of the -Mastodon on the Cordilleras, at a height of 8000 
feet; and avalanches of snow on the Himalaya mountains, at an alti- 
tude of 16,000 feet, have brought down the bones of deer and horses. 
Many bone-caves (like the Kirkdale cave near York, which Buck- 
land first investigated for geological purposes), clearly show the dif- 
ference between the ante-diluvian and the post-diluvian periods. 
From the Arctic Sea, through the tropical regions, and as far as the 
southern hemisphere — in Siberia and North America, in Germany, 
Peru, Mexico and New Holland — there are found vast numbers of 
fossils (tropical plants and animals, forests of palm-trees, and, par- 
ticularly in Siberia, entire herds of elephants). Nay, a mammoth 
was found (at the beginning of the present century) in the ice of 
Tungusi (Siberia), with the flesh, skin and hair still preserved, fur- 
nishing evidence that these animals had been buried by the sudden 
arrival of the flood, and, further, that, previous to the Deluge, a tro- 
pical climate had prevailed over the whole earth, which wat* con- 
verted by that event, at the poles, into one of excessive severity. 

Obs. 4. — During his descent into hell, and previous to his resur- 
rection, Christ preached to those who had perished in the deluge. 
(1 Pet, 3 : 19, 20; \ 156. Obs. 1.) The deluge was a flood of grace 
to Noah, and, in this aspect, was a prefiguration of Baptism. (1 Pet. 
3 : 21.) 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM. 
(1656—2083, after the Creation of Man.) 

§ 18. The Nbachian Covenant 

Gen. 8 : 15 — 9 : 17. — The messenger of peace, bearing the 
olive-leaf, had announced the abatement of the waters of the 
deluge. In obedience to the divine command, Noah went forth 
from the ark; he builded an altar, and offered sacrifice. The 
Lord smelled the sweet savour, and said : u I will not again curse 
the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's 
heart is evil from his youth : neither will I again smite any more 
everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, 
seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and win- 
ter, and day and night, shall not cease." The paradisiacal bless- 



58 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ing : u Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" was 
renewed in the case of Noah and his sons ; dominion over all 
animals was also given, but the power of dominion was no longer 
a natural endowment; authority could be exercised over animals 
only through the medium of cunning and art, or of fear and 
dread. Animal food was expressly allowed, but " flesh with the 
life thereof, which is the blood thereof," was excepted. (See Lev. 
17 : 11.) " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed : for in the image of God made he man." — As a token 
of the renewed covenant, God set the rainbow in the cloud. 

Obs. — Thus, a new course of development commences in the 
kingdom of God, occupying the period during which the forbearance 
of God (Rom. 3 : 25), dealt with sin, until He should be manifested, 
who was able to atone for it and to blot it out. The renovated earth 
proceeding from the deluge (its baptism of water, 1 Pet. 3 : 21), is 
appointed to be replenished by a new race of men, the remnant of 
the former, like a brand plucked out of the fire, but, nevertheless, 
connected with that former race. Adam's sin dwells in the race that 
is spared, as it dwelled in the former, but the counsel of salvation 
rules over the race with increased activity. Noah's sacrifice, which 
opens the new development, is a confession of sinfulness and of the 
hope of redemption. The response of God to this confession is 
written on the vault of heaven, and, like characters inscribed with 
sympathetic ink, which afterwards become visible, the writing of God 
stands forth brightly and distinctly before all succeeding generations, 
when the lowering storm, admonishing us of former judgments, 
gives place to the cheering beams of the sun that reminds us of the 
grace which has since been revealed. The exalted plan according to 
which God administers the affairs of the world, contemplates the 
universal sinfulness of man as an evil that has occurred and that 
still operates, and that plan is now so arranged as to be adapted to 
man ; (there is deep significance in the word "for," which occurs in 
the promise, Gen. 8 : 21). Divine mercy regards the sinner as an 
unhappy creature, and tenderly deals with him while the possibility 
of his salvation exists, and the divine long-suffering bears with the 
sinner and spares him as long as his return to God is possible ; both 
unite in delaying the second and last, or general judgment of divine 
holiness (which can consider sinfulness as guilt alone and punish it 
as such), until divine grace shall have accomplished all things which 
it had predetermined to do for the redemption of the sinful race of 
man. (Acts 17 : 31.) Even this new course of development, how- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 59 

ever, although commenced under such favorable circumstances, does 
not yet conduct to the manifestation of salvation ; it is interrupted 
by the renewed degeneracy of man, and, therefore, needs a new 
commencement, according to a modified plan. For the fruit which 
it brings forth is not divine salvation, but ungodly heathenism. The 
unity of the human race, which had re-appeared after the deluge 
with renewed vigor, and which could have powerfully promoted and 
accelerated the development contemplated by God, proves to be the 
source of actions offensive to God; it becomes necessary to termi- 
nate the unity and union of the race (§ 20), which threaten to frus- 
trate the great plan of God, and commence anew. 

§ 19. The Sons of Noah. 

Gen. 9 : 18-29. — Noah began to be a husbandman, and he 
planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken ; 
and he was uncovered within bis tent. Hani, his youngest son, 
mocked him, but Shem and Japheth, with averted faces, covered 
their father. This unsightly transaction reveals the personal 
character and natural tendency of each of the sons of Noah ; and, 
since generation is a communication of being, these character- 
istics are further unfolded in their descendants. Hence, when 
Noah, after he awoke, knew all that had been done, he prophet- 
ically pronounces a blessing and a curse, containing a history of 
the world in the germ. " Cursed be Canaan; a servant of ser- 
vants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of 
Shem ) and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge 
Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan 
shall be his servant." 

Obs. — Noah's prophetic contemplation is influenced by the wicked- 
ness of Ham, and the filial piety of the brethren of the latter ; hence 
he regards the bright aspects alone presented by the development of 
Shem and Japheth, and the dark aspects alone in that of Ham. — 
Jehovah, the God of salvation, who forms and executes the counsel 
of salvation ($ 3, Obs.), is the God of Shem ; he is the chosen one of 
Jehovah ; the promised salvation of mankind shall proceed from the 
family of Shem, and not from those of Japheth and Ham. Japheth 
shall be enlarged and dwell in the tents of Shem ; that is, the de- 
scendants of Japheth shall be received as participants of the salva- 
ion proceeding from Shem. Canaan was the youngest son of Ham; 



fiO REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

thus Ham receives, in his own youngest son, the recompense for the 
wicked conduct of which he himself, the youngest son of Noah, had 
been guilty. The curse of temporal and spiritual bondage lies on his 
house; and while a curse and evil are announced in place of a bless- 
ing and salvation, it is not yet revealed to him that his descendants 
can and shall be hereafter made free in Christ from all bondage, and 
that, in Christ, the curse which long and heavily oppressed them, 
since the days of their ancestors, shall terminate. That the bright 
aspects of their development will assuredly be manifested, even if 
the time be distant, we already learn from the words: " Princes shall 
come out of Egypt ; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto 
God." (Ps. 68 : 31.) 

§20. The Confusion of Tongues, and the Dispersion of Man- 
kind. 

1 Gen. ch. 11. — The descendants of Noah proceeded from 
Armenia in an eastern direction, and dwelt in a plain in the land 
of Shinar, between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Anticipating 
that an excess of population would ultimately render their disper- 
sion necessary, they propose to establish a central point of union, 
to ascend, with Titanian arrogance, to the clouds, and, by a com- 
bination of all their strength, to defy Him who dwells in heaven, 
" Go to/' they say, u let us build us a city, and a tower, whose 
top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name." (See 
Gen. 12 : 2, "name," Hebr. Shem.) Hitherto, the whole earth 
had been of one language and of one speech — the necessary con- 
dition of united action. This bond was broken; the Lord came 
down and confounded their language, so that they left off to build 
the city 5 on this account, it received the name of Babel, (that is, 
confusion). As their union had been perverted, the Lord scat- 
ters them abroad. Henceforth, the nations walk in their own 
ways (Acts 14 : 16) until they meet again on Golgotha before the 
despised cross, the reverse of the proud tower — until the Lord 
again comes down, and, on the day of Pentecost, re-unites by his 
Spirit the divided tongues in one. But Babel is a type of all 
that is ungodly and anti-Christian — a type of the maturity which 
evil must hereafter reach. (See § 15. 2, Obs. and § 196.) 

Obs. 1. — When the words were spoken: " Go to, let us build. 
&c." the hour of the birth of heathenism arrived. For heathenism 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 61 

essentially consists, on the one hand, in a denial of the living and 
personal God, and contempt of the salvation which he had prede- 
termined to bestow— -and, on the other, in the opinion of man that 
he can and must aid himself by his own power and wisdom, and 
consequently, in the effort to set forth salvation by his own means! 
Ihis tendency became visible and recognizable in the attempt of the 
builders of the tower, and then a development commenced, which as 
it is unable to reach the mark set before it, can, and ought to, termi- 
nate only in a total failure, in loss of confidence in itself, and in de- 
spair. (See I 120. I.) 

Obs. 2. — The temple of Belus in Babylon, described by Herodotus 
I. 181, and Strabo, 16. 1., is generally considered as a later comple- 
tion of this unsuccessful plan of building. A mass of ruins on the 
west bank of the Euphrates, of more than 2000 feet in extent, which 
the Arabs call Birs Nimrud (Nimrod's tower), constitutes, according 
to tradition, the remains of the tower of Babel. 

2 Gen. ch. 10. — Japheth originally proceeded in a northerly 
direction : agreeably to the paternal blessing which had predicted 
his enlargement, his descendants, who form the active element in 
history, peopled Northern Asia, and the whole of Europe : even 
in our own day the influence of that blessing, "God shall enlarge 
Japheth/' is seen in the tendency of these descendants to esta- 
blish colonies in new regions. Ham proceeded towards the south; 
the heat of the mid-day sun corresponded alike to his name 
(Ham, warmth, heat) and to the ardor of his disposition ; his de- 
scendants occupied the southern peninsulas of Asia, India, Arabia, 
and the whole of Africa, The race of Shem, constituting the 
stable element in history, was established in Central Asia* and 
extended both in an easterly and in a westerly direction. The 
promised line is seen in this family, which again presents in one 
period or division an aggregate of ten generations : Shem, Ar- 
phaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah and 
Abraham. But, towards the close of this period, corruption ap- 
pears even in the line of promise, for Terah, the father of Abra- 
ham, already served other gods (Joshua 24 : 2, 14). 

. 0bs * i- — The time in which the events narrated above, occurred 
is indicated in Gen. 10 : 25 ; it is there stated that the great-great- 
grandson of Shem received his name Peleg (that is, division* from 
the fact that in his days the earth was divided. (Others, applying 



62 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the term to a physical change, suppose that an abruption or division 
of the several continents is implied.)- — Further details respecting 
the dispersion and extension of mankind are found in the Mosaic 
table of nations, which, like a vast genealogical map of the world, 
exhibits the manner wherein the descendants of Noah established 
themselves in the regions east of the Mediterranean Sea. — The first 
government characterized by the culture and power to which it at- 
tained, was founded by Nimrod, the Hamite, in the land of Shinar. 
(Gen. 10 : 10.) 

Obs. 2. — The confusion of tongues and the consequent dispersion 
of nations, like the fall of man and the union of the sons of God with 
the daughters of men in a former period, constituted a crisis in the 
history of man. For the development which God had appointed is 
again perverted, arrested and ruined ; hence it became necessary 
that a new period in the events which prepared the way for the pro- 
mised salvation, should commence. In the natural world, diversities 
of climate originated in the deluge ; the confusion of tongues, com- 
bining its influence to a certain degree with that of climate, now led 
to many distinctions among men, which are perceptible in their re- 
spective races, national peculiarities, languages and religious (my- 
thological) systems. 

Obs. 3. — The table of nations (Gen. ch. 10), which may seem to be 
uninteresting and useless, is, nevertheless, very significant in this 
connection. For at this point, when Sacred History allows the na- 
tions from which it is turning away, to walk in their own ways, the 
preservation of their names implies that not one of them shall be 
ultimately lost to it, or be forgotten by the counsel of eternal love. — 
This table, besides, exposes the fallacies of the mythical genealogies 
of pagans, contradicts their fables respecting gods, heroes and pe- 
riods of millions of years, and also affords a firm foundation for in- 
vestigations concerning the origin and the traditions of nations. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION,, 63 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

(2083 — 4225, after the Creation of Man.) 

§ 21. General View.* 

1. In consequence of the perversity of men, the manifestation 
of salvation could not take place during the two preparatory pe- 
riods (described in the two preceding chapters), which were de- 
signed to lead to it. God does not, however, abandon his counsel 
of redemption, but commences his gracious operations anew. In 
each of the two former periods the whole race of man was ap- 
pointed to sustain the development of salvation, for in each the 
whole race could trace its origin to the same head (Adam and 
Noah). We now perceive mankind unfolded as a multitude, and no 
longer characterized by unity ; all are now alienated, indeed, from 
the divine counsel of redemption, but they are not destroyed by a 
new judgment extending over the whole earth ; they are, on the 
contrary, reserved unto salvation, and can and shall be restored 
(§ 18. Obs.). If they have become incapable of sustaining a part 
in the preparation of salvation, they can, at least, be made capa- 
ble of accepting salvation at a subsequent period, when it is mani- 
fested in its completion. Hence, the preparation of it which now 
commences anew, necessarily assumes the character of Particular- 
ism [that is, a special relation between God and a chosen people] ; 
it is the appointed task of the development of Paganism to awaken 
the feeling of a need of salvation and lead to a susceptibility of it ; 
while, on the contrary, it is the appointed task of Judaism to 
manifest that salvation itself. God chooses one man, and intrusts 
to him and to his descendants the care of the sacred deposit. 

* See the [author's] treatise, entitled: " Land und Volk Israel/' in the 
Christoterpe for the year 1853. 



64 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Here all divine revelations and preparations intended to lead to 
salvation, are concentrated, until the kingdom of God, after ac- 
quiring internal strength and completion, shall, in the following 
period, embrace all nations within its limits. In the mean time, 
God " suffers all nations to walk in their own ways" (Acts 14 : 
16), in order that they may ascertain in their own experience 
whether human strength and wisdom can afford aid. They are 
given up to themselves, like the prodigal son who withdraws from 
the embrace of his father, and carries his portion with him into 
the world. They carry with them as their portion from the pa- 
ternal home, the recollections and the hopes of a primitive age, 
and the law that is written in their hearts. And the prodigal, 
after he had spent all, and no man gave unto him even the husks 
that the swine did eat, at length returns to his father, full of sor- 
row, and hungering after the bread of life — and he is kindly re- 
ceived. So too, should men be prepared for salvation amid the 
development of Paganism, and, by the development of Judaism, 
'that salvation should be prepared for them (§ 15. 1). 

2. In the people of God we see the people of desire, directing 
wishful glances towards the future which is to bring salvation. 
They represent in history the divine opposition to prevailing evil; 
they are the voice of one crying in the wilderness : u Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord." (Mark 1:3.) It is true that the perver- 
sity of the human heart developes itself even in this chosen na- 
tion, and that, as a body, it is often alienated from God ; never- 
theless, while it is not distinguished by an unusual degree of 
culture, or peculiar success in the arts and sciences, this nation 
is characterized by a high degree of culture in religion ; it pos- 
sesses treasures of divine wisdom ; it is strong in hope, and 
mighty in a faith that overcomes the world. In this nation 
the way is regularly prepared that conducts to salvation; the 
Saviour of the world proceeds from their midst ; in Abraham's 
seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. (Gen. 22 : 18.) 
— Even for pagan nations, although they walked in their own 
ways, God appointed a special task, namely, " that tliey should 
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, 
though he he not far from every one of us" (Acts 17 : 27); and 
after long and manifold wanderings, when they had, at length, 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 65 

discovered their spiritual poverty, and their spiritual helpless- 
ness, they, too, found salvation in Christ. For even paganism 
was appointed to bring forward stones for the building up of the 
kingdom of God which should be revealed in its grandeur and 
comprehensiveness. The results of the intellectual culture of pa- 
ganism, particularly those which belong to philosophy, art and 
science, are even yet, in part, unrivalled, and have rendered essen- 
tial service to that Christian culture which is designed to pene- 
trate and sanctify all things. Nevertheless, "salvation is of the 
Jews." (John 4 : 22.) 

§ 22. The Holy Land. 

1. Palestine, which was previously occupied by the descend- 
ants of Canaan, was appointed by the Lord to be the abode of his 
people, the nursery of his kingdom. Its position between the 
Mediterranean Sea on the west, the mountains of Lebanon on 
the north, the Syrian wilderness on the east, and the desert of 
Arabia Petrsea on the south, is peculiar; while it constituted the 
centre of the three divisions of the world as it was then known, 
the country, like the nation which occupied it, was secluded by 
its insulated position from the rest of the world. The interior 
was protected by the peculiar features of the whole region from 
foreign influences, while, at the same time, its position between 
Egypt and the great Asiatic kingdoms, the vicinity of the widely 
extended commerce of Phoenicia, and its own near approach to 
the most important channels along which the commerce of the 
ancient world flowed, combined to establish it in the centre of the 
activity of the world. The country was, in this manner, specially 
adapted to become, at first, the silent and retired nursery of the 
kingdom of God; and, afterwards, to spread abroad, in all direc- 
tions and among all nations, the great salvation, when the latter 
had reached the period of its maturity. 

2. Palestine is a mountainous country throughout its whole 
extent. On each side of the Jordan a high table-land extends 
along the entire length of the country, from the mountains of 
Lebanon to Arabia Petraea ; four parallel divisions of the surface 
are produced by these features : the sea-coast ; the west-Jordanic 



66 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

highland, the plain of the Jordan, and the east-Jordanic highland. 
The Jordan rises at the base of Mt. Lebanon (Hermon), flows 
through Lake Merorn, and, after proceeding 10 or 15 miles 
further, enters the Lake of Gennesaret, (the sea of Galilee, the 
sea of Tiberias). On issuing from this sea, it proceeds in a 
course so tortuous that, in " a space of sixty miles of latitude and 
four or five of longitude, the Jordan traverses at least 200 
miles." * Between the two lakes through which it passes, 27 ex- 
tensive rapids occur, besides many others of less magnitude. 
Steep cliffs, like walls of rocks, rise in some places to the height 
of 2500 feet, immediately on the two shores of the Dead Sea, 
and, in combination with the deep depression of the Dead Sea 
below the ocean-level, maintain so high a temperature of the air, 
that the amount of water lost by evaporation equals the whole 
amount of water flowing into the sea from the Jordan and other 
smaller streams. For it has been ascertained that the entire 
valley or bed of the Jordan lies below the level of the Mediter- 
ranean — the lake of Gennesaret lying 612 feet, and the Dead Sea 
1235 feet, below that level. These two bodies of water present 
a striking contrast: the region which surrounds the former, dis- 
tinguished by its beauty and fertility, and enclosing a fruitful 
world of life in its bosom, is the abode of the blessing and sal- 
vation of God; the latter, a mass of salty water, destructive to 
life, surrounded by steep basaltic rocks, on which all that has life 
grows torpid, and enveloped in a glowing atmosphere that is filled 
with noxious vapours, is an image, as it is also the abode, of the 
divine curse and of death. The basin of the Dead Sea consists 
of two unlike portions, which are partly separated by an extensive 

* [This is the statement of Lieut. Lynch, commander of the late 
(1847) Expedition to the Jordan and the Dead Sea (Narrative, &c. p. 
265) ; the author gives the distances in Prussian miles. Lynch adds to 
the above the fact which the author has also quoted : "We have plunged 
down twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser 
magnitude." In another place, p. 440, Lynch remarks: "We found the 
difference of level, in other words, the depression of the surface of the 
Dead Sea, below that of the Mediterranean, to be a little over 1300 feet." 
This statement also agrees with that of the author, who means Prussian 
feet, which are somewhat longer than the English measure of the same 
name, or, 1.029722. — Te.] 



EEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 67 

and level peninsula; the connection is formed by a narrow and 
shallow channel. The northern part, which constitutes more 
than two-thirds of the whole, is, upon an average, more than 1000 
feet deep; the southern part, on the contrary, is not more than 
12 feet deep in the centre, and is so shallow along the edge, that 
the heated and slimy bottom i3 scarcely four feet below the sur- 
face of the water. On the east side, the Jarinuk (or Hieromax, 
now called Sheriat-el-Mandhur), and the Jabbok, flow into the 
Jordan; the Arnon and the Sared flow into the Dead Sea; all 
these pass through narrow and deep ravines, of which the sides 
are nearly perpendicular. The west side presents only unimpor- 
tant rivulets and mountain-streams. The plain of the shore of 
the Mediterranean Sea is interrupted by the promontory of 
Carmel, at the foot of which the brook Kishon empties into the 
sea. That portion which lies on the north of Carmel is called 
the plain of Akko; the southern portion is again divided by a 
hilly projection, into the plain of Sharon on the north, and the 
plain of Sephela on the south. 

3. The western highland rises, in the course of a few miles 
from the coast, to a height of 2000 or 3000 feet, while, on the 
side of the Jordan, it presents an uncommonly steep and rapid 
descent; it is marked by numerous narrow ravines, and deep 
excavations formed by violent mountain-torrents, but it exhibits 
only one plain which is of considerable extent. For the central 
portion, very nearly, is occupied by the plain of Jezreel (Es- 
draelon), through which the Kishon flows into the sea. The 
northern half forms the highland of Galilee ; the southern portion 
comprehends the range of Mount Ephraim (Samaria), and the 
Mountain of Judah (Judaea). The extreme southern portion of 
the latter constitutes the Mountain of the Amorites, characterized 
by a precipitous declivity in the direction of the desert of Arabia 
(§ 41. 2). The eastern plateau (Persea) exhibits greater uni- 
formity than the corresponding plateau on the western side. 
Extensive oak-forests alternate with rich pasture-land. It is 
intersected by the brook Jarmuk at the distance of a few miles 
below the sea of Galilee. The northern plain is called Bashan. 
Mount Gilead, intersected by the brook Jabbok, rises on the south 
of the Jarmuk ; towards the south, and in a direction opposite to 



68 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Jericho, the highland of Gilead descends into an extensive level 
called the plains of Moab. The mountains of Abarim then begin 
to rise. The Arnon, which rises in this range, forms, on this 
side, the boundary of the land of promise. — The eastern plateau 
terminates in Mount Seir, or the mountains of Edom, which ex, 
tend to the iElanitic Gulf. (§ 41. 3.) 

Obs. — The extraordinary fertility of the country is celebrated both 
t)y the Scriptures and by classical authors ; according to the former, 
it was a land flowing with milk and honey. The density of the 
population corresponded to the fertility of the soil. Although the 
country was inhabited by numerous tribes in the age of Abraham, 
it afforded ample space and support for his vast flocks and herds. 
When David numbered the people ($ 78), the country contained five 
millions of inhabitants — about four hundred to a square mile. The 
population appears to have been even greater at the Christian era. 
The condition of Palestine in our day presents a striking contrast to 
the above. Barren, parched, uncultivated and uninhabited solitudes 
occupy the greatest part of the territory. This country exhibits, in 
an unusually distinct manner, the influence of a blessing or a curse ; 
there is a sensitiveness in its relations to its occupants which is not 
elsewhere beheld. For no other country so readily receives the im- 
pression of the blessing or the curse which rests on the inhabitants; 
and no other, again, contains in itself so many fountains whence a 
blessing or a curse may flow, according to the will of God, for the 
purpose either of inflicting a chastisement or bestowing grace. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

THE AGE OF THE PATRIARCHS. 

§ 23. Significance of this Period. 

1. The kingdom of God, in the new form which it now 
assumes, again begins its movements in the narrow sphere of the 
Family. While marriage constitutes the condition on which 
alone history can proceed (§ 10. 4, Obs.), the commencement of 
the latter is found in the family. Sacred History also conforms 
to this law, which is founded on the nature of the human race. 
The significance of this period consequently arises from the cir- 
cumstance that it furnishes the materials of the history of salva- 
tion in its introductory stages, or that it presents the several 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 69 

tribes and their ancestors, from whom the chosen people pro- 
ceeded, in the regular succession of the several generations of 
the family, and that it discriminates between them and collateral 
tribes, like the Moabites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, &c. 
A single branch is taken from the tree of the Shemitic race to 
which the promise had been given (§ 19. Obs.); it is trans- 
planted and set in another soil, where it is carefully tended by its 
owner, and takes root ; it is regularly cleansed and pruned ; and 
when it has advanced in its growth and become itself a vigorous 
trunk, it spreads forth at length in twelve widely-extended branches. 

2. All the revelations of God and the whole course of his 
Providence, as well as all the hopes and designs of the chosen 
family, are directed towards two central points : the seed of pro- 
mise, and the land of promise. It was needful that the founda- 
tion of the new development should be laid in the land of promise, 
that the promised seed should be conceived and born there, and 
that Israel's history in its earliest stages should occupy that land 
as the home of its childhood; hence has arisen the deep, powerful, 
and unvarying tendency of this history to seek that home per- 
petually ; for the spot in which man was born, and in which he 
passed the years of his childhood, is always felt to be his home, 
and attracts to itself the longings of his heart. There is deep 
significance in the circumstance that the land of promise was at 
first assigned to the chosen family merely as a land of pilgrimage, 
and only promised as a land of possession ; there is equal signifi- 
cance in the fact that the family abandons it during four hundred 
years; the former is appointed to be the means of unfolding and 
strengthening their faith; the latter is designed to secure a pe- 
riod of probation and education (see § 35. 1, Obs.) The design 
of this period, which constitutes the childhood of the history of 
Israel, corresponds to the childlike mode in which the testimonies 
and revelations of God are given. The Lord, as the tutor, as- 
sumes an appearance adapted to the state of the pupil, and may 
be regarded as advancing in his communications with the progress 
of the latter. Hence this period exceeds all others in the 
number of theophanies (§ 7. 2), or manifestations of God. 

3. History derives not only its commencement but also its 
early prefigurative form and its peculiar features from the family; 
for the germs and vital powers of the character and the tendency 



70 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



and the pursuits which are gradually developed in the regular 
increase resulting in the existence of a whole people, are enclosed 
in all their original vigor in the family. The history of the pa- 
triarchs is, consequently, the prelude and the type of the entire 
subsequent history of the nation, both in its divine and in its 
human aspects. The peculiar features of the character and the 
life of the ancestors of Israel re-appear in the character of the 
nation descending from them, in so far and so long as that nation 
does not, with suicidal violence, cut itself off from its source, and 
oppose its own nature and destination. The pictures of life 
which the age of the patriarchs presents in their representatives, 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, are like a mirror, in which 
the future generations of Israel may behold the reflection of 
themselves ; and, indeed, they render the same service to that 
succeeding age in which the spiritual Israel takes the place of 
Israel after the flesh. (Gal. 3 : 7, 29 ; Rom. 9 : 6-8.) 

Obs. — The following table, which anticipates the regular succes- 
sion of events, may contribute to give distinctness to the family- 
connexions of this period : 



TERAH. 



Haran. 



Iscah, Milcah, Lot. 



Nahor. 
(of Milcah.) 



Bethuel. 



Moab, Ammon. Laban, Rebekah. 

I 



(of Leah.) 
I 



uben, 



Reuben, Simeon, 
Levi, Judah, 
Issachar, Zebulun, 
Dinah. 



Leah, Rachel. 



(of Bilhah.) 



Abraham. 



(of Hagar.) (of Sarah.) 



Ishmael. Isaac. 

(of Rebekah.) 



Dan, Naphtali. 



Esau, (Edom.) Jacob, (Israel.) 



(of Zilpah.) 
Gad, Asher. 



(of Rachel.) 



I I 

Joseph, Benjamin. 



Ephraim, Mana^eeh. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. *1 

§ 24. The Calling and Emigration of Abraham. 

1. Gen. 12 : 1-9. — Abraham came originally from Ur of the 
Chaldees ; his father Terah, whose nomadic habits had induced 
him to leave that region, died in Haran (Carrse) in Mesopotamia. 
Here Nahor established his residence. But Abraham, when he 
was 75 years old, received the divine call : " Get thee out of thy 
country, and from tby kindred, and from thy father's house, unto 
a land that I will show thee ;" he also received the promise : "I 
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and malce 
thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless 
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ; and in 
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Abraham obeyed 
the call ; Lot, whose father Haran had already died in Chaldea, 
went with him. When Abraham had passed through the land 
unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh (on- Mount 
Ephraim), he learned that he had arrived at the chosen place, 
and the Lord said to him : " Unto thy seed will I give this land." 
Abraham pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai, builded an 
altar, and called upon the name of the Lord. 

Obs. 1. — Abraham remained after his marriage without issue, but 
Jehovah promised to raise up children unto him, against the course 
of nature. He, therefore, chose in Abraham a people which was 
called into existence only by his almighty, creative power. It was 
needful that Abraham should be withdrawn from all connection with 
his own family and people, since it was full of danger (Josh. 24 : 2, 
14) ; if he had retained his early connection with them, he would 
have been nothing more than one link of the whole chain : his union 
with them would have oppressed, checked or arrested his peculiar 
political as well as his religious development. As the founder of a 
new family^ and of a new order of things, it was needful that he 
should withdraw from the relation which he had hitherto sustained 
towards others. The history of the old covenant begins with the 
strictest Particularism, that is, with the selection of a particular in- 
dividual and of his seed, but it immediately opens a view of the 
widely-extended or general plan of the salvation of all nations. The 
salvation of the whole world is the purpose and end of the election 
of Abraham. 

Obs. 2. — The promise which is here given to Abraham is the resump- 



72 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

tion, continuation and further unfolding of the blessing given to his 
ancestor, Sheni ($ 19). The servitude to which Canaan is condemned, 
is resumed in the words: "Unto thy seed will I give this land," but 
it appears in the form of a blessing given to Abraham ; in the same 
manner, the promise that Japheth shall find Jehovah and his salva- 
tion in the tents of Shem, is also resumed in the words: " In thee 
shall all families of the earth be blessed ;" but the promise, no longer 
restricted to the descendants of Japheth, is now extended to all the 
nations which do not refuse the blessing proceeding from Abraham's 
race. The organic progress of the idea of salvation did not yet admit 
here of the mention of a personal Messiah. The idea of a Messiah 
could not assume the form of a clear and distinct expectation of a 
personal Messiah, until a personal deliverer and redeemer of the 
people had appeared in Moses ($ 57), and until, even in a more ex- 
pressive manner, the highest splendor of the history of the old cove- 
nant had appeared in the person of David (§ 76. 1). As the first evan- 
gelic announcement (Gen. 3: 15) presents the seed of the woman, 
that is, her offspring, or the human race in general, as the ultimate 
conqueror of the tempter (§ 14), so here too, Abraham's seed in 
general, that is, the nation descending from him, viewed in its unity 
as an aggregate, appears as the bearer and medium of salvation. 
Still, a decided advance already appears here, in the circumstance 
that the expectation of salvation obtains clearer and more precise 
boundaries, and that this expectation does not, as in the former case, 
refer, negatively, to the absence of evil only, but also, positively, to 
the presence of salvation. 

Obs. 3. — The words of Jehovah: "I will curse him that curseth 
thee," express, as it is very evident, not the rule which Abraham is 
to observe in his conduct towards those who curse him, but the rule 
which God will adopt when he judges them. It is precisely the fact 
that God assumes the office of punishing them, which imposes on 
Abraham the obligation to submit both the curse and the vengeance 
to God exclusively. Abraham is appointed to " be a blessing," and 
" all families of the earth shall be blessed" in him — hence it is his 
office to bless and not to curse. Besides, the word of Jehovah does 
not refer to Abraham simply as an individual, but to Abraham as 
the representative of the chosen people, and as the bearer of the di- 
vinely-appointed development of salvation ; — hence, those who curse 
Abraham are not here his personal enemies, but those who disturb 
and oppose the divine development of salvation, and who do not hate 
the person of Abraham or of his seed, but rather the calling, the 
office and the position which he received from God. This minatory 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 73 

language of God is a pledge that, in his just administration of earthly 
affairs, he will ultimately hurl back on the nations and the kingdoms 
of the world that curse which they bring on the chosen people. The 
whole history of the people of Israel, and of their collisions with 
other nations, furnishes evidence of the strictness with which God 
has fulfilled his word. (See \ 56. 2, and \ 89.) 

2. Gen. 12 : 10-20. — In consequence of a famine which pre- 
vailed in the land, Abraham journeyed to Egypt. He is exposed 
to the danger of losing his wife, on account of this journey which 
he had undertaken by his own choice \ he had announced her as 
his sister, and believed himself to be justified in making this 
declaration, by his near relationship to Sarah (Gen. 20 : 12), who, 
according to an old tradition, was Iscah, (mentioned in Gen. 11 : 
29.) Pharaoh, who had caused her to be brought to his house, 
is compelled, by great plagues from the Lord, to restore her. 
Abraham, after receiving valuable gifts, departs. 

Obs. — Egypt, a country not far removed from the land of promise, 
with its seductive profusion and wealth, its civilization and wisdom, 
is a type of the kingdoms of the world in their power and glory ; it 
was adapted both by its attractive and its repellent influences, to be 
a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the chosen poople, 
throughout the whole course of the history of the latter. It first en- 
ters here into connection with Sacred History, and offers in its rela- 
tion to Abraham a prefiguration of the relation which it will after- 
wards sustain to his descendants. The same necessity conducts both 
him and them to Egypt; they both encounter similar dangers in that 
land ; the same mighty arm delivers both, and leads them back, en- 
riched with the treasures of that wealthy land. 

3. Gen. ch. 13. — Abraham returned to Canaan, and con- 
tinued to call on the name of the Lord. Lot had hitherto ac- 
companied him ; the numbers of their flocks and herds, however, 
and the strife between their respective herdmen, at length ren- 
dered a separation necessary. Abraham, already accustomed to 
self-denial, resigned the choice of the country to Lot j the latter, 
consulting his own interest, chose the plain of the Jordan, or the 
vale of Siddim, which was soon afterwards occupied by the Dead 
Sea (Gen. 14 : 3), but which was, at that time, a well-watered 
region, even as the garden of the Lord. Lot pitched his tent 

7 



74 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

toward Sodom, regardless of the wickedness of its inhabitants, 
who were already ripe for the judgment of destruction. Abra- 
ham journeyed through the land, in the length of it and in the 
breadth of it, and dwelt in the plain of Mamre in Hebron, (on 
the Mount of Judah). 

§ 25. Cliedorlaomer and Melcliizedek. 

1. Gen. 14 : 1-16. — Lot, who supposed that he had chosen 
wisely, soon suffered the first chastisement of the selfish choice 
which he had made. The kings of five cities in the vale of 
Siddim (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela), united in 
rebelling, after a subjection of twelve years, against Chedorlaomer, 
the king of Elam, (Elymais, a district above the Persian gulf). The 
latter made an alliance with three other kings, invaded the plain 
of the Jordan, defeated the rebels, and, besides much booty, car- 
ried away many captives, among whom Lot was numbered. When 
Abraham received the tidings from a fugitive who had escaped, 
he armed his 818 trained servants, in company with his confede- 
rates, the Amorite princes, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, pursued 
the conquerors, attacked them unexpectedly by night, smote 
them, and brought back all the captives with a large amount of 
spoils. 

Obs. — The rescue of Lot was, unquestionably, the immediate 
object of this expedition. A deeper meaning may, at the same time, 
be found in the whole occurrence. Abraham is designated as the 
owner of the land ; hence it becomes his office to protect that land 
from every act of oppression. The victory which he gained, pro- 
claimed him to be the man whose presence obtained security and 
blessings for the land — while the same victory was an assurance to 
himself of the future possession of the country. 

2. Gen. 14 : 17-24. — The king of Sodom went forth to meet 
Abraham, on his return. And Melehizedek (that is, king of 
righteousness), king of Salem (that is, peace, probably Jerusalem, 
Ps. 76 : 2), the priest of the most high God, saluted him in a 
priestly manner, bringing forth bread and wine, and blessed him. 
Abraham, the head of the family in which the Leritical priest- 
hood afterwards appeared, the father of all them that believe 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 75 

(Rom. 4 : 11), to whom such uncommon promises were made,, 
gave tithes to Melchizedek of all the spoils. The king of Sodom 
desired Abraham to accept of the goods which had been reco- 
vered, as a compensation for the aid which he had rendered, but 
Abraham declined to take even a thread — it was not the king of 
Sodom, but Jehovah, who had called and blessed him, by whom 
he was to be enriched. 

Obs. — We learn from the words in Ps. 110 : 4 — "Thou art a priest 
forever after the order of Melchizedek " — which are addressed to the 
Messiah, that the former is a type of Christ ; of this point the ex 
planation is given in Hebrews, chap. 7. The name, the office, the 
person and the place of residence of Melchizedek already refer mys- 
teriously to the eternal priest-king in the city of the great King 
(Matt. 5 : 35). The position of the former is, relatively, higher than 
that of Abraham, to whom all those things are, so far, only promised, 
which Melchizedek already possesses, namely, a country and seed, 
royal rank and the priesthood. Melchizedek, who represents the 
time then present, appears as the more eminent, but Abraham, who 
represents the future, is appointed to rise ultimately above him. 
The former terminates a previous development of which he is the last 
result, while the germ or beginning of a new period, full of promise 
and hope, appears in Abraham. When the priesthood of Abraham 
shall have been manifested in Aaron, and his royal rank in David, 
and when both features in union shall have been manifested in their 
most complete form in Christ, the future will be seen to be infinitely 
more glorious and perfect than the present time. To that future 
period Melchizedek renders due honor, inasmuch as he blesses Abra- 
ham, while the latter honors the present by giving tithes to him. 
As the noblest and the last fruit of the Noachian covenant, Melchi- 
zedek is also a type of Christ, who is the noblest and the last fruit 
of the Abrahamic covenant. The former is the key-stone of a deve- 
lopment of an earlier period, which never reached the appointed 
end, while Christ is the crown of a new development, which perma- 
nently endures and reaches the most exalted end ; in him, conse- 
quently, all that is realized, of which Melchizedek was merely the 
type and shadow. 

§ 26. First Stage of the Covenant. Hagar and IshmaeL 

1. Gen. ch. 15. — To Abraham, who was apprehensive of the 
vengeance of the powerful king of Elam ; the Lord said in a 



76 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

vision : u Fear not, Abram : I am thy shield, and thy exceeding 
great reward." — When he complained that he was childless, the 
Lord directed him to go forth, and said: "Look now toward 
heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. — So 
shall thy seed be." Abraham believed in the Lord; and he 
counted it to him for righteousness (see Rom. ch. 4). Proceeding 
on the foundation of this faith, which solicited a sign for its full 
assurance, Jehovah takes the first step in the establishment of the 
covenant which had been hitherto in a course of preparation. — 
Abraham is directed to prepare a covenant-sacrifice. Birds of 
prey come down upon the carcasses (a sign of approaching 
danger) ; Abraham drives them away. As the sun is going 
down, he falls into a deep sleep, when "lo, a horror of great 
darkness fell upon him." He now learns the signification of that 
sign ; his seed is appointed to pass, like himself, through a season 
of probation and affliction ; the iniquity of the Amorites is not 
yet full, and, hence, his seed, and not he himself, shall possess 
the land, after having served 400 years in a strange land ; God 
will judge the nation that afflicts his seed, which shall, finally, 
come out with great substance. (§ 40. 1.) After these revela- 
tions are made, and the darkness of the night has arrived, the 
glory of the Lord appears, represented by the symbol of a pillar 
of smoke and fire, such as Moses saw in the burning bush (§ 39. 
Obs.), and as the people saw afterwards in the wilderness 
(§ 42. 1) ; it passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, sanctioning 
and concluding the covenant on the part of God. When the 
Lord repeats his promise at the conclusion, that Abraham's seed 
shall possess the land, a definition of the boundary is propheti- 
cally annexed, namely; "from the river of Egypt (the Nile) 
unto the great river, the river Euphrates," or the territory lying 
between the two kingdoms of the world which these streams 
represent. 

Obs. — Since the Fall and the introduction of the plan of salvation 
into history, the divine plan of saving and restoring man takes the 
place of the divine plan of creation, considered as a rule or standard 
proposed to the liberty of man. For, according to the original plan 
of the administration of the world, man would have been righteous, 
if he corresponded to the requirements of the divine plan of creation 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 77 

($ 10). Through sin, man was rendered incapable of reaching this 
end. It was God himself who now interposed, in order that the 
great end or purpose of the world might, nevertheless, be reached. 
Man now becomes righteous, if he corresponds to the requirements 
of the divine plan of salvation (§ 14). According to this plan, man 
is no longer required to render himself righteous by means of his 
liberty, but, simply, to place no obstacle, in the exercise of his 
liberty, in the way of the divine action which contemplates his salva- 
tion, and, as the reverse of such opposition, to assent to the salvation 
offered to him, in so far as it has at any period been manifested. . 
Thus, a new way of attaining to righteousness is prepared for man — 
the way of faith, that is, a free, complete, and unconditional sur- 
render to the salvation which God has wrought. He that believes, 
accepts of the offered salvation ; and this salvation, thus accepted, 
renders him righteous and holy, that is, his faith is imputed to him 
for righteousness. Now as Abraham was the first who became 
clearly and distinctly conscious of this necessary position of man in 
reference to the plan of salvation, and also presented in his life, in 
a powerful and influential manner, the type of the true relation in 
which man should stand to that plan, he was made by his faith, the 
father of them that believe. 

2. Gen. ch. 16. — Sarah, who despairs of becoming the mother 
of the promised seed, urges Abraham herself to receive her 
Egyptian handmaid Hagar as a concubine. Sarah afterwards 
deals hardly with the handmaid who had begun to despise her, 
and compels her to flee. She is brought back by the angel of 
the Lord, and bears a son named Ishmael. 

Obs. — The angel of the Lord is God who manifests himself ($ 2. 
2), for he identifies himself with God, ascribes divine power, honor, 
and names to himself, accepts of worship and sacrifices, and is usu- 
ally regarded and acknowledged as God, by those to whom he 
appears. The angel of the Lord, appearing temporarily in a merely 
human form, is a prefiguration of the permanent and essential incar- 
nation of God in Christ.* 

* See the [author's] treatise : Der Engel des Ilerrn, Liter ar. Anzeiger 
far christl. Theol. u. Wissensch. 184G, Nos. 11-14. — [The author gave the 
same view expressed in this Obs. respecting the true character of the 
"angel of the Lord" (the Logos or Christ, and not a created "angel"), 
in the first edition of his great work: Gesch. d. alten Bundes, Vol. I. 
But in the second edition (Berlin, 1853) he has devoted much space 
7* 



78 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 27. Second Stage of the Covenant. 

Gen. ch. 17. — When Abraham was ninety and nine years old, 
the Lord appeared to him, and said : "lam the Almighty God ; 
walk before me, and be thou perfect — and 1 will establish my 
covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee— for an 
everlasting covenant. — Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, 
thou, and thy seed after thee." — According to the renewed pro- 
mise, Abraham is to be a father of many nations, and kings shall 
come out of him. Hence his original name Abram (high father) 
is changed into Abraham (father of a multitude), and the name 
of Sarai (princess) is changed into Sarah (fruitful). — The cove- 
nant had been only partially established by the covenant-sacrifice 
(ch. 15) ; for it was God alone, and not Abraham who had then 
assumed a covenant-obligation. For the purpose of completing 
it, Abraham also now assumes the obligation to keep it. Cir- 
cumcision, which is to be performed on the eighth day of the 
new-born child, is instituted by the Lord as the sign of the cove- 
nant, and is intended to admonish Abraham and his descendants 
respecting the duties of the covenant which they had assumed. 
Abraham could not yet perceive that the Lord would give him 
the promised seed through Sarah, when she was past age (Heb. 
11 : 11), and therefore prayed : " that Ishmael might live be- 
fore thee." Then did the Lord announce explicitly : " Sarah thy 
wife shall bear thee a son indeed ; and thou shalt call his name 
Isaac ; and I will establish my covenant with him for an ever- 
lasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ish- 
mael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him — but my 
covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto 
thee at this set time in the next year." 

Obs. — Circumcision was both the medium and the title by which 
an interest in the covenant of promise was secured. It sustains a 
certain relation to the generation of the promised seed, both of the 
people of the covenant in general, and also of Him in particular, who 

(pp. 144-159) to a re-examination of the subject, and after an extended 
discussion, obtains results which constrain him, as he remarks, to change 
his former opinion. — Tr.] 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 79 

was the chief and head of the whole nation. Its signification was 
not derived from any essential quality of its own, but was, rather, 
symbolical and typical. It designated, negatively, the inability of 
human procreation to set forth the promised seed in a sinless and 
holy state, while it, positively, indicated a procreation from which 
every spot and blemish of original sin should be removed (2f 125, 
126). All that circumcision represented symbolically, is completely 
realized in the generation of the man Jesus by the creative omnipo- 
tence of God (Luke 1 : 35 ; John 1 : 13). — It was directed that each 
new-born son should be received into the covenant of God on the 
eighth day. Now the eighth day is the commencement of a new 
week, a new cycle or period ; that day was, consequently, appointed 
for the introduction of the child into a new sphere of life, into a new 
world, into the kingdom of God. 

§ 28. Appearance of the Lord in Mamre.— Sodom and 
Gomorrah. 

1. Gen. ch. 18. — Three men, among whom the Angel of the 
Lord is soon recognized, are hospitably entertained by Abraham. 
The visit is, however, intended for his wife rather than for him- 
self, and, hence, the first inquiry of the guests is : " Where is 
Sarah thy wife V } For it is needful that she too should learn to 
exercise faith, before she can become the mother of the promised 
seed (Heb. 11 : 11). Jehovah repeats the promise that Sarah 
shall bear a son at the appointed time, in the hearing of Sarah, 
for whom these words are intended, although she believes that 
she listens, in the interior of the tent, without the knowledge of 
the guests. In place of considering the power of Him who makes 
the promise, she thinks only of the circumstance that she is past 
age ; and the contrast between the reality and the promise pro- 
vokes her to laughter. The Lord then speaks with her, rebukes 
her on account of her laughter, repeats the promise in the most 
explicit terms, and refers to his omnipotence. She is ashamed of 
her unbelieving laughter, and this change in her feelings becomes 
an avenue conducting her to faith. — Abraham accompanies the 
men. In virtue of the covenant that had been established, Abra- 
ham is the friend of God (James 2 : 23 ; 2 Chron. 20 : 7; Isaiah 
41 : 8), and hence, as one friend imparts his counsel to another, 
the Lord communicates to him, on the way, that it is his purpose 



80 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to execute judgment in the case of the cities in the vale of Sid- 
dim, since the measure of their sins is full. Abraham derives 
such alacrity and courage from his great vocation to be the bearer 
and medium of the divine blessing and salvation for all nations, 
that he immediately pleads for the cities which are threatened 
with destruction, and appeals from the wrath to the mercy of 
God. His prayer, proceeding from the deepest humility (" Be- 
hold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which 
am but dust and ashes"), becomes more bold and importunate, 
and, at length, receives the answer, that Sodom shall be spared 
for the sake of even ten righteous men only, if so many shall be 
found in it. 

2. Gen. ch. 19. — The two attendants of Jehovah (angels, ver. 
15) had, in the mean time, proceeded to Sodom, and had been 
hospitably received by Lot. The Sodomites purpose to offer 
violence to the strangers; Lot, who exposes his own life in at- 
tempting to protect his guests, is himself rescued by them, and 
the wicked people are smitten with blindness. In obedience to 
the command of the two angels, Lot departs early on the follow- 
ing morning from Sodom with his family, after having in vain 
urged the men to whom his two daughters were betrothed, to 
accompany him in his flight. Amid a rain of brimstone and fire 
from the Lord out of heaven, the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Ad- 
mah and Zeboiim (Deut. 29 : 23) are overthrown. The district 
which they occupied was probably overspread with the waters of 
the Dead Sea, which now admonished the inhabitants of the 
whole land with enduring earnestness of the duty of repentance, 
and furnished them with an impressive example of the punitive 
justice of God (§ 22. 2). Lot's wife, who looked behind, con- 
trary to the express command of the angels, became a pillar of 
salt. Lot himself fled to Bela or Zoar, which, in answer to his 
entreaty, was granted to him as a place of refuge, and spared by 
the Lord. His two incestuous daughters bare sons, namely, 
Moab and Ammon, the fathers of the Moabites and Ammonites. 

Obs. 1. — The grounds of the command that Lot and his family 
should not look behind and stay in any part of the plain, are both 
external and internal. According to the former aspect, it was given 
lest any one who remained might be reached by the destruction of 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 81 

the cities in its rapid progress, and be involved in the great over- 
throw. According to the latter, it referred to the sentiments of the 
individual, of which the expression would be a glance behind. Such 
a glance would imply, on the one hand, unbelief respecting the divine 
warning, and, on the other, an affinity in sentiment or feeling with 
the inhabitants of Sodom, and an attachment of the heart to the 
lusts of Sodom. The punishment of Lot's wife is, by no means, too 
rigorous. Christ directs our attention to it as a warning example in 
reference to the day of the Son of man : " Remember Lot's wife" 
(Luke 17 : 32: see also Luke 9 : 62). — Nothing could be more unlike 
any metamorphosis described by Ovid or any author of fictions, than 
this occurrence. Lot's wife was probably overtaken by the destruc- 
tion, while she delayed for the purpose of looking behind, and, like 
the whole region, was enveloped in a mass of salt. 

Obs. 2. — Zoar was probably situated on the peninsula which di- 
vides the Dead Sea into two unequal portions (g 22. 2), and which 
strongly resembles a tract of land that has escaped the effects of a 
violent convulsion to which the entire region had been exposed. The 
present appearance of the whole, in connection with the circumstance 
that the Jordan could not have previously flowed into the Red Sea, 
which presents a much higher level, indicates that the Dead Sea 
existed before the catastrophe of the four cities occurred — that is, 
the portion only which lies north of the peninsula ; the very shallow 
southern part was, in all probability, not formed till that occurrence 
took place. It has been conjectured that the muddy and slimy bot- 
tom on the south-west shore covers the ruins of Sodom ; ancient tra- 
ditions support this view. A vast and lofty mass of pure rock-salt 
which is found in this part of the coast still bears the name of Us- 
dum (Sodom ).* 

§ 29. Isaac's Birth and Offering. 

1. Gen. ch. 21. — At length, when Abraham is one hundred 
years old, and Sarah ninety, the son of promise is born ; he is 
named Isaac. The rude Ishmael mocks him, and is sent away 
with Hagar (when he is at least fifteen years old), on the demand 
of Sarah ; the Lord approves of this demand, but mitigates its 

* [For a description of the pillar of solid salt seen by Lieut. Lynch, on 
the eastern side of Usdum, see his Narrative, &c. (referred to in a former 
note), page 307. — Tit.] 



82 KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

severity by a promise in reference to Ishmael ; the latter and hig 
mother are saved from perishing in the wilderness by the angel 
of God. The lad grew, and dwelt in the wilderness ; he was a 
wild man ; his hand was against every man, and every man's hand 
was against him (ch. 16 : 12); from this powerful ancestor, 
twelve Arabian princes and founders of tribes proceeded (ch. 25 : 
12-16). 

Obs. — The birth of Isaac is again a decisive event in the line of 
the generation of the promised seed (J 14. Obs. 1). At this new 
point of beginning in the line of promise, divine mercy and power 
indicated already that which would be assuredly accomplished in an 
infinitely higher and more glorious manner, at the conclusion of the 
line. The wonderful generation of Isaac, the son of parents whose 
bodies were now barren and dead, Eom. 4 : 19, is a type and a pledge 
of the birth of Christ, the son of a virgin. 

2. Gen. ch. 22. — It is not, however, merely the son of the 
bond-maid whom Abraham is required to dismiss from his em- 
brace ; even the son of promise is to be taken from him and 
devoted to death. For after these things, God did tempt Abra- 
ham, and said : " Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom 
thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah ; and offer him 
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will 
tell thee of." On the third day Abraham reaches the appointed 
place; Isaac, who is obedient to his father unto death, carries the 
wood of the burnt-offering himself He is bound and laid on 
the altar upon the wood, and Abraham already stretches forth 
his hand and takes the knife; at that moment he is arrested by 
the voice of God out of heaven, and receives that son alive again 
whom he had already offered in his heart. The ram which he 
finds in a thicket is offered up as a substitute for his son. All the 
former promises of God are now renewed in the most solemn 
manner, and then Abraham, accompanied by his son, returns to 
his home. 

Obs. — Abraham loves Isaac, because he is the son of promise, the 
gift of divine omnipotence and grace — but he loves him, too, be- 
cause he is his own son, begotten of himself. Now if that faith of 
Abraham, which is imputed to him for righteousness, is to be made 
perfect, it is needful that he should renounce this (latter mode of) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 83 

love which he entertains for his son, according to the flesh, as com- 
pletely as he had already, in faith, forsaken the land of his birth, 
and dissolved all other ties of friendship and affection. For the 
purpose of affording a visible and unequivocal proof that he had 
renounced his paternal love in as far as it originated in the fleshly 
bond between himself and his son, he is required to resign the object 
of that love, so that he may receive that son again as a gift of grace 
alone, and love him solely as the son of promise. Human sacrifices, 
and particularly those of first-born children, occur among all pagan 
nations ; such worship as these render to gods that are false and 
" nothing in the world" (1 Cor. 8 : 4), Abraham is expected to render 
to Him who is the true and only God. Abraham, a hero in self- 
denying faith, must, in every respect, surpass all others in self-denial; 
he is commanded to resign the son for whom he had hoped and 
waited during twenty-five years, on whom all the precious and glo- 
rious promises which he had received, depended — and, nevertheless, 
it is required of him, also, that his faith in these promises should 
remain unshaken ! On this single point his trial hinged (Heb. 11 : 
17-19). He endured the trial by faith, "accounting that God was 
able to raise him up, even from the dead ; from whence also he re-' 
ceived him in a figure/'(see Matt. 3 : 9). It was in this faith that he 
said with so much confidence to his young men : "I and the lad will 
go yonder and worship, and come again to you." These views, how- 
ever, by no means present the whole of the deep significance of this 
occurrence. The universality of human sacrifices indicates a general 
and deep feeling in the pagan religion of nature — a feeling, however, 
entirely misunderstood and horribly degenerated — that other or or- 
dinary sacrifices were insufficient, and that a more precious offering 
than they are, was demanded. The truth that lies in this feeling is 
acknowledged, in its pure form, by the command to offer up Isaac ; 
the frightful disfigurement of this feeling in heathenism is judged 
and condemned by the present interposition of God. By the offering 
up of the ram the substitution of animal sacrifices is divinely au- 
thorized, and their (temporary) validity solemnly acknowledged. 
The selection of a mountain in the land of Moriah involves an inti- 
mation of the temple and its sacrificial worship ; and the whole oc- 
currence furnishes a prefiguration and a pledge of that future sacri- 
fice of the only-begotten Son of God, which shall possess eternal 
validity. 



84 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ £0. Sarah's Death. Isaac's Marriage. Abraham's Death. 

1. Gen. ch. 23 and 24. — Sarah died in Hebron, when she was 
one hundred and twenty-seven years old. Abraham bought of 
Ephron the Hittite the cave and field of Machpelah befcr^ 
Mamre, as a burying-place for bis family. Three years after- 
wards, he sends his steward Eliezer to Haran, where, according 
to the tidings which he had received, many descendants of his 
brother Nahor dwelt, for the purpose of bringing back a bride 
for Isaac. In answer to the prayer which Abraham's servant 
offered in faith, Rebekah, the grand-daughter of Nahor, meets 
him at the well of water where he rested; in her he recognized, 
according to the sign for which he had prayed, the person whom 
God had appointed for Isaac. On her arrival, Isaac, who was 
now forty years old, brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, 
and she became his wife. 

Obs. — The circumstance that Abraham buys a burying-place which 
his descendants are to receive by inheritance, is an evidence of his 
faith in the promise that his seed shall possess that land. He desires 
that his own ashes and those of his wife should remain undisturbed 
in the land in which his descendants would dwell and reign, and, 
that during the period of 400 years wherein they would be strangers 
in a foreign land, the spot in which these ashes are deposited, should 
perpetually admonish and remind them of- the land of their fathers 
as the land which they shall possess. The solemnity with which 
Abraham arranges the terms of the purchase of the property, at a 
public meeting of the Hittites, indicates the importance which he 
assigned to the sure and undisputed possession of that family 
burying-place. 

2. Gen. 25 : 1-18. — After the death of Sarah, Abraham again 
took a wife, whose name was Keturah, and who bare him six 
sons, the ancestors of Arabian and Midianite tribes. Isaac was 
appointed the sole heir ; to the other sons he gave valuable gifts. 
When he was one hundred and seventy-five years old he died — 
"an old man and full of years." Isaac and Ishmael buried him 
in the cave of Machpelah, where Sarah had already been laid. 

Obs. — The human race has had four ancestral heads, to each of 
whom the divine blessing is granted: "Be fruitful and multiply." 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 85 

Of these, Abraham is the third ; for he, too, is the head and founder 
of a new race, or of a new development. The direct reference of 
that blessing, in the case of the first and second, is to descendants 
after the flesh ; in the case of the fourth (Christ, see Psalm 22 : 30— 
110 : 3. Isa. 53 : 10), to a spiritual seed, but in the case of Abra- 
ham, to both ; for his spiritual seed was appointed to be manifested 
through the medium of his seed according to the flesh, agreeably to 
the promise : " in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
earth be blessed." — The children of Abraham, according to the flesh, 
are countless in number. Nations have arisen and disappeared, but 
his descendants proceed onward, through all ages, unmixed and un- 
changed. Their history is not yet closed : the blessing given to his 
seed, still preserves them unharmed, under every pressure of the 
nations around them, and amid all the ravages of time. But the 
peculiar feature which distinguishes Abraham does not, properly, 
belong to him naturally, as a member of the human family, or as an 
individual of a particular nation, but is found in his spiritual cha- 
racter. Where this character, which is faith, is continued by pro- 
pagation in his descendants, or through them as the medium, in all 
the other nations of the earth, we find the true children of Abraham. 
(Gal. 3 : 7, 29 ; Rom. 9 : 6-8.) — Faith was the polar star, the very 
soul, of his life. The ancient record, anticipating a development of 
two thousand years, remarked of him, first of all: "He believed in 
the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness (Gen. 15 : 6) ; 
and after these two thousand years had elapsed, Christ said of him : 
"Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." 
(John 8 : 56.) Abraham's true position and importance cannot, 
therefore, be fully appreciated, until we recognize in him the father 
of them that believe (Rom. 4 : 11) ; and innumerable as the stars of 
heaven, and glorious as they are, are his spiritual children, the 
children of his faith. 

§ 31. Isaac and Ms Sons. 

1. Gen. 25 : 19-34. — Rebekah had been the wife of Isaac 
twenty years, when she brought forth twins, concerning whom 
the Lord had previously said : " the elder shall serve the 
younger." Esau, the elder, who was a hunter, is his father's 
favorite ; Jacob, who dwelt in the tent, is preferred by his mo- 
ther. The former, who is characteristically rude and thoughtless, 
sells his birthright to the artful and calculating Jacob for a pot- 
tage of lentiles; he afterwards (ch. 26 : 35) takes to himself two 

8 



86 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

wives, the daughters of Hittites, which were a grief of mind to 
his parents, 

Obs. — The Lord said (Malachi 1 : 2, 3), "I loved Jacob, and I 
hated Esau," and Paul teaches that Jacob was thus chosen and Esau 
rejected, not on account of the merit of works, but through the free 
grace of God, for the choice was made when the children were not 
yet born, neither had done any good or evil. (Rom. 9 : 10-13.) The 
two brothers are the representatives of their respective descendants ; 
now, as those of Esau, like all pagans, are called to salvation in 
Christ, the above does not refer to any unconditional and eternal 
reprobation, but to a certain preference of the one, for the purpose 
of leading to the salvation of both. 

2. Gen. ch. 26. — Another famine, like the first in the days of 
Abraham, now occurred ; but the Lord commanded Isaac, who 
also purposed to depart for Egypt, to remain in the land of pro- 
mise, and in a distinct and impressive manner, transferred to him 
the promises which had been given to Abraham. Isaac now 
dwells in Gerar, and, like Abraham, alleges that his wife is his 
sister. But he does not possess his father's energy of character, 
and is relieved by the Lord from the trial which Abraham en- 
countered in the seizure of his wife. Abimelech soon ascertained 
that Isaac's words were untrue, and charged his subjects, saying 
to them, that he who touched Isaac or his wife should be put to 
death. Nevertheless, the Philistines, who envied Isaac on 
account of the abundant blessing which he enjoyed, stopped his 
wells of water; he patiently endures it, and withdraws to Beer- 
sheba. Here the Lord appeared to him, speaking words of en- 
couragement, and blessing him ; and he builded an altar, and 
called upon the name of the Lord. 

3. Gen. ch. 27. — When Isaac was now old, he intended to 
transfer the patriarchal blessing to the elder son, contrary to the 
declaration of the Lord. Rebekah frustrates his design ; she 
intends to comply with the divine will, but she employs ungodly 
means ; she presumes to offer to God the aid of her own devices. 
Jacob obeys his mother in a case in which duty required him to 
disobey, while Esau purposes to appropriate to himself an object 
(the blessing) which he had neither a divine nor human right to 
claim. He lies and deceives not less than Jacob, and he him- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 87 

self, not Jacob, as he alleges, verse 36, is the supplanter of his 
brother. Thus they all walk in their own carnal and sinful ways, 
and, nevertheless, the will of God is done. — Rebekah prepares 
the savoury meat, which Isaac had directed Esau to bring pre- 
vious to the act of blessing him, for, among the Oriental nations, 
a common meal is the foundation of common action. Jacob 
brings the food to him. — The voice, indeed, is Jacob's voice ; but 
the boldness of the falsehood, the smell of Esau's raiment which 
Jacob wore, the rough covering which his mother had skilfully 
placed on his hands and neck, and, above all, the finger of God 
which is present, mislead the blind father. He blesses that son 
for whom God had designed the blessing : " God give thee of the 
dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn 
and wine ; let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee ; 
be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to 
thee : cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be ho 
that blesseth thee" (the land and the seed, § 23 : 2). — Then 
Esau comes in from his hunting ; he is enraged, and weeps bit- 
terly. But Isaac, who now becomes aware of the whole truth, 
answers : " I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed." The 
only blessing which he can bestow on Esau, assigns to the latter 
the rude life of a Bedouin, and the sword as the means of sup- 
port ; he must serve his brother, but obtains a view of a period 
in which he shall break that yoke. 

Obs. 1. — Esau, whose surname Edom (that is, red), refers to the 
eagerness with which he sought the red pottage (Gen. 25 : 30), is the 
father of the predatory Edomites (Gen. ch. 36), the irreconcilable 
enemies of the people of God, who occupied mount Seir, (see \ 41. 
3); they all became David's servants (2 Sam. 8 : 14), but their na- 
tional independence was repeatedly recovered. 

Obs. 2. — Although Isaac lived 43 years after the above event, he 
now disappears from the page of history. The sacred record merely 
remarks of him, that, at the age of one hundred and eighty years, 
he was gathered unto his people, when he was old and full of days, 
and that Esau and Jacob buried him in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 
35 : 29 ; 49 : 31). Kebekah does not appear to have lived till Jacob 
returned from Mesopotamia. The significance and position of Isaac 
are, undoubtedly, not prominent, when he is compared with Abraham 
and Jacob. The invincible energy of action which characterizes the 



88 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

faith of Abraham does not appear in him ; but, on the other hand, 
his faith is seen in a different aspect, which is equally essential to its 
completeness — his strength and greatness are beheld in patient en- 
durance and suffering, in quietness and waiting (Isai. 30 : 15 ; Ps. 
37 : 7). This peculiar tendency or direction of his life and conduct, 
which fully accorded with his natural disposition, originated chiefly 
in that impressive occurrence in Moriah; and to refine and sanctify 
it, was the object of all the providential events in his history. While 
he proceeded in this direction, which both nature and grace indi- 
cated, he walked in the ways of God ; on the only occasion in his 
life, on which he designed to forsake them, and, passing over into a 
foreign region, to act according to his own determination, he dis- 
covered that he was wandering from God, and, humbled by the issue, 
he confines himself afterwards within the limits assigned to him. 

§ 32. Jacob's Journey. 

1. Gen. ch. 28. — In accordance with the advice of his pa- 
rents, and bearing with him their benediction, Jacob flees from 
his brother's fury, to Mesopotamia ; his heart is heavy ; he is 
forsaken by man, but not by the Lord. In a dream he sees the 
ladder of heaven, on which the angels of God ascended and de- 
scended, as on a bridge between heaven and earth — an image of 
the divine revelations granted to his family. The Lord appeared 
above it, ready to descend, and said : " The land whereon thou 
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall 
be as the dust of the earth — and in thee and in thy seed shall 
all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with 
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will 
bring thee again into this land : for I will not leave thee, until I 
have done that which I have spoken to thee of." When Jacob 
awaked out of his sleep, he said : " This is none other but the 
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." He anoints the 
stone on which his head had rested, and calls the place by the 
name of Beth-el (the house of God) ; and he makes the vow : 
"If God will be with me, and will keep me — so that I come 
again to my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my 
God, and this stone — shall be God's house." 

2. Gen. ch. 29-31. — In Haran he meets with Rachel, the 
daughter of Laban, at a well of water ; he served her father, who 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 89 

was governed by self-interest, seven years for her. But, even as 
he had deceived his father, so Laban deceived him, by substi- 
tuting the elder daughter, Leah, for the beloved Rachel; in this 
circumstance also, his experience resembled that of his father; for 
while he married her whom he had not chosen, she was really the 
appointed person, since Leah, and not Rachel, was the mother of 
the promised seed. Jacob served seven additional years for Ra- 
chel, and six other years for wages. Leah is the mother of six 
sons and a daughter; after a long period, Rachel gives birth to 
Joseph. Each of the handmaids of his wives (Bilhah and Zilpah), 
bears two sons. Laban changes the terms of the engagement 
ten times ; but the dexterity of Jacob, and also the divine bless- 
ing, which designs to lead him to repentance by undeserved good- 
ness, and to punish the covetous and selfish Laban, nevertheless 
prevail, insomuch that Jacob's substance increased exceedingly. 
The avarice, envy, and hatred of Laban and his sons, compel him 
to flee. Laban overtakes him, but is commanded by the Lord in 
a dream to do him no harm; and he continues his journey with- 
out molestation. In the region lying east of the Jordan the 
angels of God met him, like a divine embassy, sent to welcome 
him on his entrance into the land promised to him, and to assure 
him of divine protection. When he saw them, he said: "This 
is God's host," and he called that place Mahanaim (two hosts). 

§ 33. The Wrestling of Jacob. 

1. Gen. ch. 32. — At length Jacob gives glory to God alone, 
and confesses : " I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, 
and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant : 
for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become 
two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of — Esau 
— Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as 
the sand of the sea — ." Nevertheless, he is greatly afraid of 
his brother Esau, and awaits, with much anxiety, the return of 
the messengers whom he had sent to him. When he reached the 
ford Jabbok he selected presents for Esau, conducted his family 
over the stream, and, when evening came, was left alone. And 
there wrestled a man with him, until the breaking of the day; 



90 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

and when be saw that he prevailed not against Jacob, he touched 
the hollow of his thigh, which was out of joint as they wrestled. 
It was the Lord who met him here as an enemy, and whose anger 
he is required to subdue before he shall obtain divine aid in 
striving against the anger of Esau. Jacob prevailed, for when 
his thigh was out of joint, he had recourse to the only weapon 
which can prevail with God, to the weapon of prayer and suppli- 
cation. " By his strength," says Hosea (12 : 3, 4), " he had 
power with God : yea, he had power over the angel, and pre- 
vailed ; he wept, and made supplication unto him" For Jacob 
said : " I will not let thee go, except thou bless me;" he comes 
forth as a uew creature from the contest : his thigh is out of 
joint, and his own strength fails, but he receives the blessing of 
the Lord, over whose anger he has prevailed. He lays aside his 
former name (Jacob = he that supplants) with his former na- 
ture, and is now called Israel (that is, combatant or prince of 
God). The spot itself he names Peniel (that is, the face of 
God), and says : " I have seen God face to face, and my life is 
preserved." 

Obs. — The wrestling of Jacob with the Lord was neither a dream 
nor a vision, but an actual occurrence: the angel of the Lord was 
really present, and Jacob really wrestled with him. Even as the 
angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre ($ 28. 
1), and ate and drank with him as a guest and friend, so he appeared 
in this case to Jacob under other circumstances, and wrestled with 
him as an enemy and opponent. Jacob's conduct had hitherto been 
marked by falsehood and deceit, by artifice and guilt, by self-will 
and self-reliance ; as he employed these unholy means in fulfilling 
divine purposes, he profaned the holy ways of God, and seemed to 
involve God in the dishonor resulting from the arts which he prac- 
tised. These causes, which exercised a disturbing influence on the 
covenant between God and Jacob, were abundantly sufficient to pro- 
voke the wrath of God against the offender. Until this divine wrath 
was appeased or subdued, Jacob could not trust to the protection of 
God against Esau, or enter the land that had been promised to him. 
Hen^e the Lord himself appears here as his enemy; Jacob resorts at 
first to the same weapons with which he had hitherto contended 
against God — he employs the carnal weapons of his own natural 
strength. But when his own strength abandons him, he seizes the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 91 

true, spiritual weapons, prayer and supplication ; by these he 
subdues the wrath of God, and receives a divine blessing in place 
of being involved in the destruction with which, at first, he is 
threatened. 

2. Gen. ch. 32-35. — His brother Esau, now kindly-disposed 
and reconciled, meets him. — He pitches his tent in Shechem, 
where, like Abraham in Mamre (§ 30. 1, Obs.), he purchases a 
piece of ground, on which he erects an altar designed to express 
that the great purpose of the providential events of his life had 
been, in a certain manner, accomplished. — In obedience to the 
command of God, he subsequently removes to Beth-el, where, 
after cleansing his house from the idolatrous and superstitious 
practices derived from Laban's house, he fulfils his early vow by 
erecting an altar and instituting divine worship. In the vicinity 
of Ephrath, Rachel died, after giving birth to Benjamin. 

§ 34. The History of Joseph. 

1. Gen. ch. 37. — Joseph, the son of the beloved Rachel, who 
is distinguished from his rude and impetuous brothers by his 
agreeable, gentle and affectionate manners, is the favorite of his 
aged father. His brothers, on the contrary, hate him, because 
he brings their evil report to his father. The partiality of the 
latter is seen in Joseph's superior apparel, and combines with re- 
peated dreams of the favorite, which present images of future emi- 
nence not difficult to interpret, in increasing their hatred. This 
hostile feeling, nevertheless, is employed by the overruling provi- 
dence of God, in its wonderful course, as the means of training 
him in the school of servitude and affliction, for his high voca- 
tion, and of conducting him to it. On a certain occasion, on which 
his father sent him to his brothers, as they watched their flocks, 
they resolved to kill him, but, by Reuben's advice, they cast him 
into an empty cistern ; they, finally, adopted Judah's proposition, 
and sold him as a slave to a caravan which was passing by. He 
is then carried to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pha- 
raoh. Reuben, who had intended to rescue him, rent his clothes 
with loud lamentations, on finding that Joseph had disappeared • 
Joseph's coat, stained with the blood of a kid, conveys to the in- 



92 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

consolable father the false tidings that a wild beast had rent his 
favorite in pieces. 

2. Gen. ch. 39, 40. — The youth, who had reached his seven- 
teenth year, soon wins the entire confidence of his new master, 
and is made the irresponsible overseer of his whole house. The 
thought : " How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against 
God ?" gives him strength to resist successfully the temptations 
of Potiphar's adulterous wife ; he fled when she had caught him 
by his garment ; she retained it in her hands, and produced it as 
a proof of the truth of her slanderous accusation, which revenge 
alone had dictated. But the prison in which he is confined opens 
an avenue to dignity and power. Endowed with divine wisdom, 
he interprets the dreams of two fellow-prisoners, announcing to 
the royal butler that he would be restored, and to the royal baker 
that he would be put to death. But the butler forgot his promise 
to intercede for him with the king, and Joseph languished two 
years longer in prison. 

3. Gen. ch. 41. — The chief butler is at length reminded of 
Joseph by two dreams of Pharaoh, which none could interpret 
(seven fat cows, coming up out of the Nile, are devoured by seven 
lean cows — seven full ears of corn are devoured by seven thin 
ears). — Joseph, who is brought out of the dungeon and furnished 
with other raiment, appears before the king, and announces, as 
the interpretation of the dreams, that seven years of great plenty 
are at hand, which will be followed by seven years of famine. 
Pharaoh perceives that the spirit of God dwells in Joseph, ele- 
vates him to the rank of the highest ruler in Egypt, causes him 
to be arrayed in royal vestures, and to ride in a royal chariot, 
and orders the proclamation to be made before him : " Abrech !" 
(an Egyptian word, signifying : Bow the knee). He calls him 
Psomtomphanech* (that is, Savior of the world), and intrusts to 
him the administration of affairs in reference to the years of fa- 

* [For this name, which is nearly identical with the form given in the 
Septuagint, see Rosenm. Schol. in V. T. on Gen. 41 : 45. The Hebrew 
form retained in the English version, viz., Zaphnath-paaneah, is explained 
in the margin : a revealer of secrets, or, the man io ivhom secrets are revealed, 
For fuller details, see the author's Gesch. d. alten Bundcs, I. p. 285, 286, 
\ 88. 2.— Tr.] 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 93 

mine. Joseph (who had now reached his thirtieth year), collected 
vast quantities of food during the seven years of plenty ; when 
the pressure of the famine afterwards began to be felt, and the 
people cried to Pharaoh for bread, he directed them to apply to 
Joseph, who would afford them aid. 

4. Gen. ch. 42-45. — Canaan also experienced the effects of the 
famine, and Joseph's brothers, with the exception of Benjamin, 
proceed to Egypt to buy corn. Joseph, who recognizes them, 
resolves to subject them to a trial, and lead them to repentance 
through the medium of chastisement. He accordingly pro- 
nounces them to be spies, and requires them to prove the truth 
of their declarations, by bringing with them the youngest brother, 
who had remained at home; Simeon remains behind, as a 
hostage, on their departure. The harshness of their character 
already yields, for they confess among themselves : " We are 
verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish 
of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear ; there- 
fore is this distress come upon us." On the journey to their own 
country, they are filled with terror when they find in their sacks 
the money which they had already paid ; they apprehend that 
they will be exposed to the suspicion of being thieves as well as 
spies. Necessity soon compelled them, however, to return to 
Egypt, and their distressed father reluctantly consents that Ben- 
jamin should accompany them. Their sacks are again filled, and 
they depart \ but they are soon overtaken by Joseph's steward, 
who accuses them of having stolen his master's silver cup. It 
is really found in the sack of Benjamin, whom Joseph announces 
his intention of retaining as his servant. This was the decisive 
moment of their trial ; it was now to be made apparent whether 
they cherished the same bitter feelings against Benjamin, the 
present favorite of their father, which had formerly governed 
their conduct towards Joseph — and they were approved. They 
now openly confess, in the presence of Joseph, that God had 
found out their iniquity. Judah, the interpreter of the grief and 
contrition which they cannot suppress, is particularly distin- 
guished by the sincere and affectionate reverence with which he 
speaks of his father's gray hairs, and by the ardent love which 
he showa towards his young brother, who is apparently condemned 



94 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to be a slave Joseph can no longer restrain himself; he embraces 
them with tears, and says : "lam Joseph your brother/' Pha- 
raoh sends wagons and asses, for the purpose of bringing the 
whole family, with their substance, to Egypt. When Jacob is 
convinced that the declarations of his sons are true, he says : 
" It is enough : Joseph my son is yet alive : I will go and see 
him before I die." 

Obs. — The history of Joseph is a highly expressive prefiguration 
of the history of the Redeemer. The relation between Christ and 
his brethren after the flesh, is prefigured by the relation between 
Joseph and his brethren ; the Redeemer's humiliation and sufferings, 
and the exaltation and glory which followed, are represented in the 
corresponding events in the life of Joseph. This typical character 
of the history of the latter, which may be traced even in the details 
with remarkable distinctness, is not merely accidental, neither is it 
arbitrarily obtruded upon that history, but necessarily arises from 
the important position which Joseph occupies. He is the key-stone 
of the patriarchal history, as Christ is the key-stone of the entire 
Old Testament history. The life of the patriarchs is the first distinct 
and complete form assumed by the kingdom of God in Israel, and 
sustains the same relation to the entire Old Testament history, which 
the first or inner of two concentric circles bears to the second. As 
Joseph combines in himself the entire signification of the life of the 
patriarchs, so Christ presents in himself the entire signification of 
the life of the Old Testament. (§ 7. 5.) 

§ 35. The last Days of Jacob and Joseph. 

1. Gen. ch. 46, 47. — The whole family of Jacob, consisting 
of seventy souls (exclusive of the wives of his sons, and of the 
servants), removes to Egypt. When he reaches the border of the 
country at Beer-sheba, the Lord appears to him and encourages 
him to proceed. The venerable man, the father of the chosen 
people, bestows his blessing on Pharaoh, who allots to him and 
his household the fertile pasture-land of Goshen ; this territory, 
lying on the eastern side of the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, ex- 
tended to Rhinokolura, or the river of Egypt (torrens jEgypti), 
which formed the eastern boundary of Egypt. Jacob's sons are 
entrusted with the care of the royal cattle. (2298 years after 
the creation of man.) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 95 

q bs> — This emigration to Egypt was, without doubt, directed by 
the Lord for the purpose of guarding against the dispersion of the 
family, as well as against its admixture with strangers, during the 
important period which had arrived, in which it was appointed to be 
developed as a nation ; neither of these unfavorable results, which 
would have been inevitable in Canaan, could follow in Egypt: for 
Goshen afforded ample room for their increasing numbers, on the 
one hand, while, on the other, the aversion of the Egyptians to shep- 
herds (ch. 4G : 34) effectually prevented the formation of ties between 
them by intermarriage. Besides, the opportunity which was furnished 
for becoming acquainted with the wisdom of Egypt, and also the 
pressure of the future bondage, may have both been designed to 
serve, in the hands of God, as means for training and cultivating the 
chosen nation. And the transition from a nomadic to an agricul 
tural life, which was designed to constitute the foundation of the 
polity of Israel on acquiring independence and a home in the pro- 
mised land, may also be assigned, in its incipient stages, to this 
period. 

2. Gen. ch. 48 r 49. — A short time before Jacob died, he 
adopted the two sons of Joseph, who had, by faith, chosen a 
better lot for them than posts of honor in Egypt, since he allowed 
them to return to the lowly pastoral life of his brethren. Jacob 
gathers his twelve sons around his death-bed, and announces their 
future condition in the promised land. Reuben, Simeon, and 
Levi, respectively, lose the right of the first-born, on account of 
wicked deeds which they had committed at a former period. The 
double portion (Deut. 21 : 17), had already been assigned to Jo- 
seph by the adoption of his two sons ; the pre-eminence and the 
blessing of the promise, are transferred to Judah. "Judah" 
(that is, praise) , "thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise — thy 
father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's 
whelp. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver 
from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the 
gathering of the people be." 

Obs. — According to the translation of the concluding words in 
Luther's Bible," the sense of the promise is the following: Judah 

* [We have given above, in place of the author's own German version, 
the passage as it occurs in the authorized English version, which agrees, 
in general, with the one found in the German Bible, to which the author 



96 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

shall be the ruling tribe, until the Messiah shall come forth from it 
and exalt, or raise Judah's temporal dominion to one that is eternal. 
This interpretation of the passage is still defended by many of the 
most eminent theologians as the only one that is correct. Neverthe- 
less, the translation which we give may, possibly, claim the prefer- 
ence, as it corresponds more fully, both to the words of the original 
text, and also to that precise grade in the hope or expectation of sal- 
vation which had then been reached. [" The sceptre shall not depart 
from Judah, the rod of the ruler (shall not depart) from the place 
between his feet, until he comes to (his) rest, and obtains the obedi- 
ence of the nations."] It can scarcely be shown that, at that period 
already, the expectation of a personal Messiah existed, since the en- 
tire hope of salvation was inseparably connected with the circum- 
stance that the family would unfold itself as a great nation, which 
event still belonged to a future time, and also with the possession of 
the promised land, which was, likewise, yet to be obtained (g 23. 2), 
and since, also, no point of contact or union had hitherto been pre- 
sented by history, which could be met by a personal and individual 
Messiah ($ 24. 1, Obs. 2). Nevertheless, this prediction is decidedly 
messianic ; but the entire tribe of Judah, in its unity and totality, 
and not a particular individual belonging to it, appears in it as the 
one ivho brings rest, or as the bearer and medium of salvation. Judah 
passes through victory and dominion into his rest, and conducts his 
brethren also, who bow before his sovereignty, into that rest; yea, 
the nations also willingly obey him, and, consequently, also share in 
the blessings of that rest and that salvation. 

3. Gen. ch. 50. — Jacob dies when he is one hundred and 
forty-seven years old, and, according to the desire which he ex- 
pressed in faith, his body, which had been embalmed, and was 
honorably attended by the Egyptians, was carried to Canaan, and 
deposited in the family burying-place. Joseph removes the ap- 
prehensions which his brothers again entertain. "Ye thought 
evil against me," he said, "but God meant it unto good, to bring 
to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." When his 

refers, with the two exceptions, that Luther adopts in it the word 
"master" and "hero," in place of "lawgiver" and "Shiloh," respec- 
tively. The author proposes, in a parenthesis, after "hero," the word 
" rest, that is, he who brings rest," as a substitute for it. The author's 
version, literally translated into English, we have transferred to the Obs 
above, enclosed in brackets. — Tr.] 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 97 

own death approached, he took an oath (by faith, Heb. 11 : 22) 
of the children of Israel, requiring them to carry his bones with 
them when they returned to Canaan. (See Joshua 24 : 32.) 

Obs. — "We admire the firm, unshaken confidence, and the uncon- 
ditional obedience of faith, as they appear in their whole power and 
their fulness in Abraham ; and, on the other hand, in Isaac, the 
elasticity of faith, apparent in patient endurance and suffering, 
in quietness and waiting. Faith is beheld in another aspect in 
Jacob ; it appears as a violent contest with flesh and blood, as well 
as with the evils of life. In the life of Joseph the fidelity or perse- 
verance of faith is revealed, approved alike in quiet endurance and 
in energetic action, and ultimately crowned with salvation and 
victory. 

§36. Revelation, Religion and Intellectual Culture in the Age 
of the Patriarchs. 

1. The prevailing mode of revelation in the history of the pa- 
triarchs, agreeably to the elementary position which they occu- 
pied, was the theophany, that is, the manifestation or appearance 
of God either in a bodily form which the external senses could 
perceive (as in the case of the angel of the Lord) or in visions 
and dreams which the internal sense observed. The substance 
and the result of divine revelation may be stated thus : the divine 
will was manifested in the selection, calling and appointment of 
Abraham and his seed to be the bearers of salvation in its intro- 
ductory stages — the divine knowledge, in the announcement of 
this calling — and the divine power, in the creative production 
of the promised seed from a body now dead (Rom. 4 : 19), in the 
removal from it of all superfluous shoots and branches, and in the 
gracious guidance and direction of that seed. 

Obs. — It is a striking fact that the entire history of the patriarchs 
and of those who preceded them, does not present a single miracle 
wrought by man; God alone performed them, without employing 
man as his agent. This fact itself, which illustrates the normal pro- 
gress of the history of revelation, is already sufficient to show most 
clearly that any interpretation which would assign a mythical 
character to this period is inadmissible and preposterous. What a 
vast cloud of miraculous deeds a fictitious story, that was founded 



98 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

upon mythical or fabulous narratives, could have drawn around the 
heads of the revered ancestors of the nation ! In reference to pro- 
phecy, also, a corresponding relation occurs ; still, besides the im- 
mediate divine predictions which continue to constitute the predomi- 
nant feature, predictions are already made occasionally through the 
instrumentality of particular individuals. 

2. The religious consciousness of the patriarchs combined with 
itself from the beginning, probably through the medium of tra- 
dition, those religious views which were already imprinted on the 
earliest history (concerning the unity, personality and holiness of 
God, the creation from nothing, the connate image of God in man, 
the corruption of sin, and the hope of a future victory of mankind 
over the principle of temptation). When the patriarchs person- 
ally obtained revelations of God, their religious sense acquired 
increased vigor, greater depth and extent, and also greater dis- 
tinctness. However great, wonderful and peculiar, the fulness 
and purity of this religious consciousness may appear, when it is 
compared with the worship of nature to which Paganism aban- 
doned itself, nevertheless, when it is regarded in itself, and when 
the gradual progress of the history of revelation is considered, it 
is found, both from its nature and from necessity, to be still de- 
fective and elementary. 

Obs. — No error appears in the religious consciousness of the pa- 
triarchs, but many imperfections remain. Their view of God long 
continued without the crown of its full development, which was in- 
complete until the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was revealed. 
The degeneracy of Paganism, in its conception of God, required that 
the clear view of the unity, personality and holiness of God should 
be, first of all, indelibly impressed on the consciousness of the people 
of the covenant, and serve as the basis of the continued expansion 
of their knowledge of God. Favorable seasons for promoting this 
continued expansion occurred already in the age of the patriarchs ; 
to these belong the intimations in the history of the creation ($ 9. 
Obs. 1), the appearance of the Angel of the Lord (§ 26. 2, Obs.), and 
the distinction between the names of God, Elohim and Jehovah ($ 3. 
Obs.). The doctrine of salvation is found in the elementary stages of 
its development; thus, the idea of a personal and theanthropic (di- 
vine and human) Messiah does not yet occur ($ 24. 1, Obs. 2, and J 
35. 2, Obs.). The doctrine of eternal life is still in the period of ita 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 99 

childhood ; the idea of a divine retribution exists, but has not yet 
risen to the rank of a knowledge of a retribution in a future state. 
The abode of the dead, Scheol, Hades, did not yet appear, agreeably 
to the view presented in the New Testament, as an intermediate 
place and intermediate condition, which is succeeded, in the case of 
the righteous, by the blessedness of heaven. It rather seemed to be 
merely the conclusion of the development of life on earth, or a gloomy 
place of abode, which relieved, indeed, the sufferer from the sorrows 
of this life, and furnished the desired repose to him who was weary 
of the world (Gen. 25 : 8 ; 35 : 29), but was, positively, inferior to the 
abundance and fulness of terrestrial life. This view depended on 
the knowledge that death had entered the w r orld in consequence of 
sin. But precisely because death entered through sin alone, in the 
same degree in which the prospect of redemption from sin became 
clearer, the assurance became clear and full that (eternal) life would 
gain a victory over death and the Scheol. In the mean time, the 
view then entertained of the Scheol contained one important element 
of consolation, in representing the death of the individual as the 
event by which he was gathered unto his people (Gen. 49 : 33), for 
it is the first approach to the doctrine of the New Testament concern- 
ing the blessed communion of the saints with each other and with 
the Lord. 

3. The divine worship of the patriarchs corresponded to their 
religious consciousness, both in its entire purity and in its pro- 
portionate poverty; while it supplied the wants of the times, it 
was far removed from the systematic and complete development 
which it received in the laws of Moses. 

Obs. — The term generally used to describe the patriarchal wor- 
ship is : " calling upon the name of the Lord." (Gen. 12 : 8 ; 13 : 4; 
26 : 25). Wherever the patriarchs dwelt, they erected altars and in- 
stituted divine worship, particularly on mountains or in high places. 
The forms that occur in the service are: sacrifices, prayer, vows, 
tithes, and circumcision. No distinct traces are found of a special 
observance of the sabbath for the purpose of worship. But the two 
passages, Gen. 2 : 2, and Exod. 16 : 22, 23, render it probable that 
the day was observed as a day of rest. As a general rule, the head 
of a family discharged the priestly office. 

4. The intellectual culture of the patriarchs was dependent on 
their nomadic mode of life, and the latter was maintained by the 
circumstance that, in their day, they were strangers, and possessed 



100 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

no permanent place of abode. Their continued pilgrimage, 
hence, arose from necessity, and its termination was the object 
of their wishes and hopes. They do not, therefore, furnish any 
indications of nomadic rudeness, but are civilized, according to 
the standard of their age. When the circumstances are favor- 
able, they combine agriculture with the care of cattle, and Jacob 
even built a house for himself (Gen. 33 : 17). We find them 
in possession of money, garments, skilfully made, golden ear- 
rings, bracelets, &c. The mention of a signet (Gen. 38 : 18) 
seems to imply that the art of writing was not entirely unknown 
to the patriarchs. They were certainly acquainted with poetry, 
the exalted daughter of religion, and composed poems, besides 
the song of Lamech (Gen. 4 : 23, 24). Poetry continually oc- 
curs as the bearer or the echo of divine revelation, when the 
latter is transmitted through the subjective frame of mind of 
man, but is never found when the revelation objectively and im- 
mediately proceeds from the mouth of God (see Gen. 9 : 25- 
27; 27 : 27-29, and 39, 40; and ch. 49; on the general sub- 
ject, see § 83). In civil life, the head of the family constituted 
the highest authority and centre of union, and to him belonged, 
according to established traditionary principles, the right to in- 
flict death, in cases of necessity (ch. 38 : 24). A subordinate 
condition was assigned to females, which was the case during the 
whole period preceding the Christian era, and polygamy did not 
bear an objectionable character. But no traces appear of that 
degradation to which females were subjected among other nations; 
on the contrary, many instances occur of the esteem and love 
which were bestowed upon the wife, and of the personal rights she 
enjoyed (Gen. 21 : 10-12; 24 : 58, 67; 29 : 20; 31 : 4, &c). 

SECOND PERIOD. 

MOSES, AND THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 

(A period of 120 years.) 

§ 37. Significance of this Period. 

The chosen family becomes a nation in the land of Egypt. 
Their departure from Egypt is the period of the birth of the na- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 101 

tion, and the previous bondage formed the throes without which 
a new life is never ushered into this world. The Exodus or de- 
parture secures for Israel an independent national existence in its 
relation to other nations. As the Exodus is the birth, so the 
giving of the law is the consecration of the new-born nation, or 
its Baptism, that is, its regeneration, by which it acquires a 
higher character than that which belongs to any one nation which 
is simply classed with others. Israel becomes the first-born of 
the Lord (Exod. 4 : 22) when the law is given, a peculiar trea- 
sure unto Jehovah above all people, a kingdom of priests, and a 
holy nation (§ 43. 1, Obs. 2). The law, in its external relations, 
is a hedge, dividing and distinguishing Israel from other nations; 
in its internal aspects, it is a school-master, leading to Christ, and 
it has a shadow of good things to come (§ 43. 2, Obs. 2). The 
Lord accomplishes these purposes through the instrumentality of 
Moses, a man who possesses great natural endowments, and is 
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7 : 22), the 
vicissitudes of whose life teach him both to rule and to obey, and 
who is, above all, sealed and fitted for the work by the Spirit of 
God. He is the servant of God, and faithful in all his house; 
he is the mediator of the old covenant (as Christ is of the new), 
and is a legislator and prophet, unto whom the Lord spake face 
to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend (Exod. 33 : 11). The 
last four books of the Pentateuch constitute the source of the 
history of this period. (See § 58). 

Obs. 1. — The mighty hand and the stretched-out arm with which 
the Lord conducts his people from the house of bondage to the pro- 
mised land, his wonderful guidance of them during their journeying 
in the wilderness, the bread from heaven, &c, are convincing wit- 
nesses of Jehovah's faithfulness to his promises, and are pledges and 
types of the future gracious leading of his people ; their stubborn- 
ness and perverseness are a mirror in which the unworthiness of 
man is beheld. The chastisements which Jehovah inflicts, and, in 
particular, the sentence of condemnation and rejection pronounced 
at Kadesh .(§ 54. 1), are abiding admonitions that the judgment of 
God is sure, and that, in his own house, it is severe. The guidance 
of God and the journeying of the people through the wilderness to 
the land of rest, flowing with milk and honey, are prefigurations not 
only of the whole history of Israel, but also of life on earth in 
9* 



102 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

general.* "There remaineth a rest to the people of God." 
(Heb. 4 : 9.) 

Obs. 2. — "We append the following view of the genealogy of Moses 
and his brother Aaron : — 

LEVI. 



I I I 

Kohath. Gershon. Merari. 



Amram. 
(of Jochelbed.) 



I I I 

Miriam. Aaron. Moses. 

| 

I I I I 

Nadab. Abihu. Eleazar. Ithamar 

I I 

16 8 

courses of priests. (1 Chron. cli. 24.) 

§ 38. Israel's Bondage. 

Exodus, ch. 1. — During the 430 years (ch. 12 : 40) of the 
sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt, they had so greatly 
multiplied, that they could furnish 600,000 men who were able 
to bear arms, indicating that the whole number of souls was at 
least two millions and a half. Their numbers awakened the ap- 
prehensions of the Egyptians, and a new king, who subsequently 
occupied the throne, and who knew nothing of Joseph, greatly 
oppressed the people, and made their lives bitter with hard 
bondage. But their numbers increased in proportion to the 
increased rigor of their servitude. When the command given to 
the midwives was found to be unavailing, Pharaoh directed that 
every new-born son of Israeli tish parents should be cast into the 
river. 

Obs. 1. — The extraordinarily great and rapid increase of the Is- 
raelites is the result of the blessing of promise given to Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob. Still, the circumstance should not be overlooked, 
that the 70 souls which originally came to Egypt, were all the imme- 

* It is in this sense that Hamann observes : " He that is disposed to 
compare the map of the journcyings of the Israelites -with the course of 
my life, will perceive an exact correspondence between them." 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 103 

diate descendants of Jacob, and that, possibly, thousands of servants 
accompanied them, who were incorporated with the people of the 
covenant through the rite of circumcision, and who were gradually 
blended with his bodily descendants. Thus, on one occasion, Abra- 
ham furnished 318 trained servants (§ 25, 1), born in his own house, 
who were fit for military service ; Esau met his brother, accompanied 
by 400 men, and Jacob himself returned from Mesopotamia with 
two hosts. (§ 33.) * 

Obs. 2. — The Egyptian historian Manetho relates that the Hyksos 
or Shepherd-kings came from the East, invaded and subdued Egypt 
without meeting with resistance, burnt cities and temples, appointed 
one of their number, named Salatis, to be the king of Egypt, held 
possession of the country during 511 years, were afterwards driven 
away with disgrace, passed through the desert to Syria, and built 
the city of Jerusalem. There are two modes in which this account 
is brought into connection with the sojourning of the Israelites in 
Egypt. According to one interpretation, these Hyksos are the Is- 
raelites themselves. The considerations by which this view is sup- 
ported are, among others, the following: the establishment of the 
Hyksos in the same region in which the Israelites dwelt, the remark- 
able statement that Salatis annually engaged in the measuring and 
sale of grain, and, especially, the retreat through the desert, and 
the building of Jerusalem. The alleged oppression of the Egyptians 
by the invaders, and the ease with which they seized the country, 
seem, in that case, to be merely a distorted statement, proceeding 
from popular hatred, respecting the political measures of Joseph, 
who availed himself of the famine for the purpose of acquiring for 
Pharaoh and his successors a title of possession covering the entire 
soil. (Gen. 47 : 13-26.) According to the other interpretation, the 
Hyksos were a race allied to the Israelites by a common descent, 
which had conquered Egypt previous to the arrival of Joseph ; this 
view explains both the original friendly reception of the Israelites, 
and also the bondage which the latter subsequently endured, when 
the ancient national dynasty was restored to the throne. 

§ 39. The Birth and Calling of Moses. 

Gen. ch. 2-6. — When the parents of Moses (that is, drawn 
out), perceive that they can no longer conceal him, he is placed 
by them among the flags, growing on the brink of the Nile; he 
is drawn out by Pharaoh's daughter (Termuthis ?), nursed by his 
own mother, afterwards brought up at the court of the king, and ; 



104 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

until he is forty years old, educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. 
But " by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be 
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer 
affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches 
than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recom- 
pense of the reward." (Heb. 11 : 24-26.) The impulse of his 
own feelings, without a special call, led him to assume the office 
of an avenger of his oppressed people; the humiliation which he 
incurred drove him into the desert, and was followed by a period 
of discipline of forty years. He marries Zipporah, the daughter 
of Jethro, the priest of Midian, whose flocks he kept in the vi- 
cinity of Horeb, on the peninsula of Sinai (§ 41). In Horeb 
the Lord appears to him in the burning bush, and calls : "Draw 
not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the 
place whereon thou standest is holy ground." The same wilful- 
ness which had once induced him to assume the office of an 
avenger, prompts him to decline the office now assigned to him ; 
but his refusal is not admitted by the Lord. As a pledge of his 
success, and of the glorious progress of the work which is to be 
commenced, the Lord refers to his own name, Jehovah, the 
fulness and glory of which are now, first of all, to be properly 
unfolded and demonstrated (see § 3. Obs.) ; he likewise commu- 
nicates to Moses a three-fold miraculous power, intended to be an 
attestation in the presence of the people and of Pharaoh, of his 
truth as the messenger of God. When Moses refers to his slow- 
ness of speech and tongue as a reason for declining the divine 
commission, the Lord designates his brother Aaron, and says : 
"He shall be thy spokesman — he shall be to thee instead of a 
mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God." 

Obs. 1. — The bramble-bush (seneh) is an image of Israel, enslaved, 
wretched, and despised. The fire is here, as in every theophany or 
manifestation of God, an image of his consuming and purifying ho- 
liness. Israel is now placed in the purificatory fire of affliction, 
which proceeds from the Egyptians, it is true, but which is sent by 
the Lord to his people, for the purpose of purifying them. For 
Pharaoh's hatred and oppression become, in the hands of God, 
simply the means of bringing salvation to Israel. All that is unholy 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 105 

in Israel shall be consumed by the fire of affliction, but the kernel, 
the imperishable seed of promise, cannot be consumed. Hence, the 
bush burns indeed with fire, but it is not consumed (ch. 3:2). 

Obs. 2. — The three-fold miraculous power communicated to Moses, 
also has a symbolical meaning. 1. The rod cast on the ground, be- 
comes a serpent, and when seized, becomes a rod again. The rod is 
the support of the hand, the instrument which gives it additional 
strength and vigor. The arm of Moses is appointed to become a 
formidable power, by the aid of God, bringing ruin and death to the 
Egyptians, for Moses can both send forth and also take these back. 
2. The hand of Moses is leprous when put into his bosom — it is re- 
stored to purity and soundness when put into his bosom a second 
time. The call of Moses to be the avenger and deliverer of his 
people, is deposited in his bosom; when he put his hand in his bosom 
on the first occasion, he was excluded from communion with his 
people, like a leper. But on the second occasion, he is restored to 
that communion by the power of God, and fulfils the calling for 
which he is born, through the power of Him who calls him. 3. 
Moses is commanded to take of the water of the Nile, and pour it 
upon the dry land ; it shall become blood. When the water of the 
Nile flows over the land on other occasions, the Egyptians find it to 
be the source of every blessing; but when Moses stretches out his 
hand (ch. 7 : 19), the Lord converts the blessing into a curse. The 
three miraculous signs refer to the hand of Moses, which, through 
the power of God, is to accomplish the great work. 



§ 40. The Plagues of Egypt, and the Departure of Israel. 

1. Exodus, ch. 7-11. — Moses, accompanied by his brother 
Aaron as spokesman, appears before Pharaoh in the name of Je- 
hovah, and asks that the people of Israel should be allowed to go 
three days' journey into the wilderness, that they may sacrifice to 
the Lord their God (3 : 18). It is already known to God that 
the king will harden his heart against the divine will; still, the 
Lord, who desires to render obedience easy, and who, therefore, 
reserves for a later day, the demand of an unconditional and en- 
tire release of the people, does not make the largest and most un- 
welcome demand at the beginning. Scorn and an aggravation of 
the burdens of the people are the results of the first effort of 
Moses ; Pharaoh can be s-ubdued, as the Lord had said to Moses, 



106 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

by a mighty hand, and by great wonders alone. His magicians 
(Jannes and Jambres, 2 Tim. 3 : 8) are, at the beginning, able to 
increase, but not to avert the misery which ensued, and on the 
occurrence of the third plague already confess : " This is the fin- 
ger of God." God hardens the heart of Pharaoh, because he har- 
dens it himself; since he steadfastly refuses, he is not permitted : 
and, as the grace of God cannot be glorified in him, divine wrath 
is glorified in him (Ps. 109 : 17 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 11). The first nine 
plagues, consequently, produce no effect : the waters of the Nile 
turned into blood ; the frogs ; the lice (mosquito-gnats) ; the flies ; 
the murrain ; the biles and blains ; the hail ; the locusts ; and the 
darkness of three days. It is only the tenth plague, the death 
of the first-born, both among men and among cattle, which impels 
Pharaoh and his people not only to dismiss the Israelites, but ur- 
gently to hasten their departure. The Lord gave the people favor 
in the sight of the Egyptians ; the former demand, and the latter 
give, jewels of silver and gold, and raiment. The Lord grants 
his people these things as an indemnification for the service 
which they had been unlawfully compelled to render to their op- 
pressors. 

Obs. 1. — The plagues of Egypt are founded on the natural features 
which Egypt presents, so that they are unprecedented and extraordi- 
nary, not so much in themselves, as on account of their power and 
extent, and their rapid succession when Moses simply gives the com- 
mand. As they are, consequently, both natural and supernatural, 
they afford both to faith and to unbelief the freedom to choose (in 
Pharaoh, unbelief prevailed) ; they are, besides, adapted to convince 
the Egyptians that Jehovah is not merely the national God of the 
Israelites, but a God above all gods, who holds in his hand all the 
powers of nature likewise which Egypt was accustomed to deify. 

Obs. 2. — The promise in Gen. 15 : 14 was fulfilled when the Is- 
raelites departed : " they shall come out with great substance." The 
original Hebrew text nowhere says that they borrowed, purloined 
or stole. (Exodus 3 : 21, 22 ; 11 : 2 ; 12 : 35.) Force was indeed em- 
ployed, but it was employed, not by them, but by Jehovah, who, by 
his power over the hearts of men, compelled the unwilling Egyptians 
to yield to the request or demand of the Israelites. In this view, 
the sacred writer says : " they spoiled the Egyptians" (ch. 12 : 36) ; 
the spoils are the sign of the victory which Jehovah granted to them. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 107 

2. Exodus ch. 12.— The country and the people of Israel were 
exempted from the last plague, as well as from the former nine. 
Previous to the departure, the festival of the Passover (that is, 
the festival of the Lord's forbearing and passing over) was in- 
stituted and solemnly observed. The head of every household was 
directed to kill a lamb that was without blemish, on the fourteenth 
day of the month Nisan, and strike the blood on the door-posts 
and lintel, in order that the destroying angel might pass over the 
house which was so marked ; nothing leavened was permitted to 
remain. The members of each household, in travelling apparel, 
girded, with shoes on their feet, and a staff in the hand, ate the 
paschal lamb \ immediately afterwards, all departed, carrying the 
bones of Joseph with them (§35. 3), (2728 years after the crea- 
tion of man). Their way led through the desert of Arabia. 

Obs. — The Paschal lamb was a sacrifice, and like all sacrifices, was 
appointed to be an atonement for sin (g 48). By the striking of the. 
blood of the lamb on the door-posts, each house of the Israelites was 
designated as an altar of God, and its occupants were admitted as 
partakers of the atonement made by the sacrifice. This blood was, 
consequently, not intended to enable the destroying angel to recog- 
nize the houses of the Israelites as he passed by, but to make atone- 
ment for them, in order that he might pass over them. The Paschal 
repast, accordingly, belonged to the class of sacrificial repasts, and, 
like them, indicated an intimate communion with God, founded on 
the atonement which was made, as if the partakers were admitted to 
the abode and table of Jehovah (§ 48. Obs. 1). Unleavened bread 
alone was permitted to be eaten at this repast, for leaven is an image 
of moral impurity and depravation. In remembrance of Israel's ex- 
emption from the plague, and deliverance from bondage, the annual 
festival of the Passover was instituted ($ 49. 2), but like all divine 
service (§ 43. 2, Obs. 2; § 45. 2, Obs.) had also a prospective refe- 
rence, and indicated a future and more glorious deliverance. The 
true and original Paschal lamb is Christ, who is sacrificed for us (1 
Cor. 5:7); and that which is typically exhibited in the Paschal re- 
past, is really presented in the Lord's Supper, (g 150. 3, Obs.) 



108 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 41. The Desert of Arabia. 

1. A vast chain of deserts extends from the north-western 
coast of Africa (Sahara), in an easterly direction, through the 
whole of Northern Africa far into Western Asia, which is only 
once interrupted by an oasis (Egypt), of considerable length, but 
of limited breadth, formed by the fertilizing river Nile. The 
Desert of Arabia commences on the eastern side of the Nile, and 
extends to the banks of the Euphrates. It is divided into two 
parts by the mountains of Edom (mount Seir), which extend from 
the .ZElanitic gulf to the Dead Sea; the eastern part is called 
Arabia Deserta, and the western, Arabia Petrsea. The latter is 
bounded on the north, as far as Gaza, by the Mediterranean Sea, 
and, thence, to the southern point of the Dead Sea, by Palestine 
(the mountains of the Amorites). On the south, it descends to 
a point between the two arms of the Red Sea (Arabian Gulf) ; 
of these, the eastern is the iElanitic gulf (now called the gulf 
of Akabah), and the western, the Heroopolitan (now the gulf 
of Suez) ; this portion of Arabia is called the peninsula of Sinai. 
Mount Sinai rises in the southern part, in an almost circular 
shape, varying from thirty-five to fifty miles in length and breadth; 
it is characterized by lofty and sharp peaks, by vast masses of 
primitive rock (chiefly granite, together with porphyry), by a 
mild Alpine climate, and a cool and pure atmosphere, by abundant 
springs of water, fertile valleys, and a luxuriant vegetation. (See 
§ 43. Prelim. Obs.) 

2. The range of mountains called et-Tih (that is, wandering), 
rises from a barren plain of sand on the northern boundary of the 
Sinaitic peninsula, to a height of 4000 feet above the level of the 
sea, in a semi-circular shape ; it is about two hundred and fifty 
miles in length, extending nearly from the northern point of the 
gulf of Suez to the gulf of Akabah ; towards the north it de- 
scends into the wilderness of et-Tih ; the latter extends on the 
north to the southern declivity of the mountain of Judah 
(§ 22. 3). It consists of naked limestone and sandstone, and 
extensive portions are covered merely with red sand and black 
flint. It is only in the depressions of the valleys or wadis 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 109 

[wadys*], that water collects during the rainy season, enabling a 
few plants to grow on the soil. This region was occupied, at the 
period of the Exodus, by the Amalekites (§ 42. 2), who were a 
numerous people, whence the inference may be deduced, that the 
country was, at that time, better supplied with water, and more 
fertile. Towards the east, this barren highland descends into a 
remarkable valley, called Arabah, which is about 80 miles in 
length, and 4 in breadth, and which, extending from the southern 
point of the Dead Sea, to the iElanitic gulf (which is itself only 
a continuation of it), is bounded on the eastern side, by the lofty 
and precipitous mountains of Edom. The bottom of the valley 
is an extended sea of sand, interspersed with fertile oases, bushes, 
palm-trees, and the ruins of ancient cities. The water-shed of 
this valley is situated near the centre ; the descent on the northern 
side is much more steep than on the other,. owing to the deep de- 
pression of the Dead Sea (§ 22. 2). 

3. Mount Seir, or the range of the mountains of Edom, is a 
continuation of the range which descends from Anti-lebanon 
along the eastern bank of the Jordan ; it is from 12 to 16 miles 
in breadth, and extends to the iElanitic gulf; on the western 
side, it is steep and precipitous, but the eastern is not elevated 
very much above the plain of Arabia Deserta. The ruins of large 
cities, particularly of Sela or Petra, are found here, and fertile 
valleys, meadows, and fields of grain occur; yet the prevailing 
feature consists in the wildness of nature, or the nakedness of 
the rocks, and it is a country precisely suited to the habits of a 
rude hunter. It was here that Esau's descendants dwelt. Mount 
Seir forms one of the boundaries of Arabia Deserta, which bor- 

* ["All these wadys of the desert are mere water-beds, or slight de- 
pressions in the surface, by which the water flows off in the rainy season ; 
while at all other times they are dry. Yet in uneven or mountainous 
regions, the same name, Wady, is applied to the deepest ravines and 
broadest valleys." Robinson's Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, &c, 
Vol. I. p. 56. — In this Arabic term, and in those which occur in \ 43 
Prelim. Obs., we have retained the orthography of the author and other 
German writers (Winer, &c), but have inserted, in brackets, the forms 
in Roman letters, adopted by Prof. Robinson, and Rev. E. Smith, in the 
work referred to. — Tr.] 
10 



110 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ders towards the north-west, on the cultivated territories of the 
Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Amorites. (See § 56.) 

§ 42. The Journey to Sinai. 

1. Exod. ch. 13-15. — Jehovah accompanied and guided his 
people, in a pillar of a cloud and of fire. They were not, however, 
permitted to take the usual caravan-road from Cairo to Gaza, 
along the sea-coast, over which they could have passed in a few 
days, " for God said, Lest, perad venture, the people repent when 
they see war, and they return to Egypt" (IB : 17). Moreover, 
the Lord designed to speak to them in Sinai, for he purposed to 
consecrate them as his own people, in the place in which he had 
first called Moses (ch. 3 : 12). He also desired to purify them, 
and prepare them for their entrance into the promised land, to 
punish Pharaoh and his host (14 : 3, 4), and reveal his power 
and glory to the heathen nations dwelling in the whole land 
(15 : 14-16). Hence, the people journeyed through the wilder- 
ness, to the Red Sea. Pharaoh's heart is hardened once more; 
he says: "the wilderness hath shut them in," and he pursues 
the Israelites. Hemmed in on all sides by the mountains, the 
sea, and Pharaoh's host, they direct their glances upward, where 
alone, the prospect is unobstructed, and their help comes from 
above. The pillar descended between them and the enemy, 
whom it involved in impenetrable darkness, while it gave light to 
them by night. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, by 
divine command, and the Lord caused the sea to go back, by a 
strong east wind, all that night, and made the sea dry land, and 
the waters were divided, and were a wall on the right hand and 
on the left. The infatuated Egyptians went after the Israelites 
to the midst of the sea, but the Lord troubled their host ; Moses 
stretched out his hand again, and the returning waters covered 
the entire host of the Egyptians. Moses and his sister Miriam, 
sing praises unto the Lord. 

Obs. 1. — The opinions of commentators differ respecting the route 
to the Red Sea. According to one view, which is followed on the 
map of Raumer, the people assembled at Heliopolis. Thence they 
proceeded on the caravan-road, which leads from that place to the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. Ill 

northern point of the gulf, but soon left it by divine command, and 
passed through the Valley of wandering (et-Tih), which is guarded 
by high mountains on each side, and extends to the gulf at a point 
where the latter is twelve miles in breadth. According to the other 
view, Heroopolis was the point of departure, and the people jour- 
neyed thence in a southern direction, and, afterwards, in place of 
passing around the gulf, and continuing their journey on the eastern 
side, remained, by the command of God, on the western side, in the 
territory of Egypt. 

Obs. 2. — The pillar of a cloud and of fire was a symbol, sign and 
pledge of the immediate presence of Jehovah among his people. The 
pillar of fire, the image of the holiness of God ($ 26. 1, and § 39. Obs. 
1), is enclosed and veiled by a pillar of a cloud (or smoke), as the 
feeble eye of sinful man is not capable of enduring the sight of the 
unveiled glory of the Lord. But the brightness of the divine fire is 
seen through the cloud which enveloped it; hence the pillar ap- 
peared by day as a pillar of vapor, and by night as a bright pillar 
of fire. 

2. Exodus, ch. 16-18. — The people now proceed along the 
eastern shore of the gulf towards Sinai. The bitter waters of 
Marah are made sweet, after Moses casts into them the tree indi- 
cated by the Lord. The people lust already, in the wilderness of 
Sin, after the flesh-pots of Egypt, and Jehovah gives them quails 
and manna. In Rephidim a rock furnishes them with water. 
Here they are attacked by the Amalekites. Aaron and Hur 
Miriam's husband, [Joseph. Antiq. III. 2. § 4] stayed up the 
supplicating hands of Moses, and Joshua discomfited Ainalek; 
then they learned that hands held up in prayer are more mighty 
than a host engaged in battle. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, 
conducts to the latter his wife and two sons, and also gives him 
the counsel, which he adopts, to appoint for his own relief judges 
or rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 

Obs. — Large flocks of quails are still occasionally seen in Arabia 
Petraea, which descend so low in their flight that they may be caught 
with the hand. The miracle consists in the circumstance that they 
appear precisely at that conjuncture, and, indeed in such vast and 
unprecedented numbers as to satisfy the hunger of two millions of 
human beings. — The same remark applies to the Manna. The penin- 
sula still produces a species of manna during the summer, in rainy 



112 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

years; it exudes from the tamarisk, a tree abounding in that region, 
in consequence of the puncture of an insect, and, after hardening, is 
gathered by the Arabs, in quantities, however, even in the most fa- 
vorable years, of not more than 500 or 600 pounds. It differs, in 
many respects, from the manna described in the Bible ; thus, it does 
not possess the nutritious qualities by which the latter was adapted 
to constitute the daily and the chief article of food of the people ; the 
circumstance is also worthy of observation, that the latter speedily 
fermented and produced worms, while the modern manna may be 
preserved for many years without injury. Nevertheless, as this ta- 
marisk-manna is found on the Sinaitic peninsula alone, a certain re- 
lation between it and the manna of the Israelites must be acknow- 
ledged to exist. At the period when the manna was appointed to 
be the daily food of two millions of human beings, the omnipotence 
of God, by which miracles are wrought, imparted to the production 
of it that fulness and abundance, and endowed it with that nutritive 
quality which the purpose for which it was designed rendered 
necessary. 

§ 43. The Giving of the Laiv. 

Preliminary Observation. — The following results have been fur- 
nished by the most recent explorations* of the locality to which the 
giving of the Law, through Moses, belongs. The central portion of 
Mount Sinai (? 41. 1) is constituted, as it has been ascertained, by a 
group of three vast ranges of mountains running in parallel lines 
from the north-west to the south-east; the central range is Horeb, 
the eastern is called Dschebel ed-Deir [ Jebel-ed-Deir] , and the 
western, Dschebel el-Homr [Jebel el-Humr]. On the north, this 
group of mountains is bounded by the widely-extended plain er-Ra- 
hah (4000 feet above the level of the sea), which is continued in a 
north-eastern direction in the broad wadi esch Scheikh [wady esch- 
Sheikh]. The two valleys which these three ranges form, open into 
this plain. The western valley is called wadi el Ledscha [el-Leja] ; 
it is closed on the south by Mount St. Catharine [Jebel Katherin], 
which is the continuation of the Dschebel el-Homr, and is the 

* [In his larger work, Gesch. d. alten Bundes, the author furnishes, in 
different places, the titles of the best works on the Geography of the Bible, 
&c., including Meissner's German translation of Lynch's work, to which 
he assigns a distinguished position. Prof. Robinson's great work, also 
translated into German (Reisebericht,&c), the author not only regards 
as one of eminent value, but terms it " opus palmare," p. 26. — Tr.] 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 113 

highest mountain in the whole peninsula (more than 8000 feet). The 
second or eastern valley is called wadi Schueib [Shu'eib], in which 
the celebrated hospitable convent of St. Catharine is located. It is 
also closed on the south by a ridge separating it from the extensive 
plain of Sebaije [Seba'iyeh], which surrounds Horeb on the south 
like an amphitheatre. This southern plain is not readily accessible 
except through the wadi es-Sebaije (a continuation of the wadi esch 
Scheikh of the same breadth), which, in connection with the plain 
er-Rahah, extends around the eastern and southern sides of the 
Dschebel el-Deir, and then spreads out into the southern plain. — On 
the north, Horeb rises to a height of 15,000 feet from the plain er- 
Rahah, presenting a perpendicular wall of unusual boldness. Thence 
the ridge proceeds to rise in a southern direction, attains its greatest 
elevation (7000) in the southernmost point, which is Dschebel Musa 
(mountain of Moses), and then abruptly descends 2000 feet to a bor- 
der of low hills of gravel, behind which the great plain Sebaije lies. 
— According to this description, the Law was given under the fol- 
lowing circumstances: the people encamped in the wilderness of 
Sinai in the plain er-Rahah and the wadi esch Scheikh. Thence 
Moses conducted them through the wadi Sebaije into the extensive 
plain of the same name. Dschebel Musa was the place upon which 
the Lord descended in fire (19 : 18) ; the people stood below his feet 
in the plain, which formed an amphitheatre, above which the moun- 
tain ascended like a majestic altar of the inaccessible God. The 
people were filled with fear and fled back to- the plain er-Rahah, and 
were thus separated by the long ridge of Horeb from the place in 
which the law was given, and which, after they had reached the 
plain, could no longer be seen. 

1. Exod. ch. 19. — In the third month after their departure, 
the Israelites reach the wilderness of Sinai. Moses immediately 
ascends the mountain, and is made acquainted with the prelimi- 
nary terms of the covenant. w Ye have seen what I did unto 
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought 
you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice 
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar trea- 
sure unto me above all people : for all the earth is mine : and ye 
shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" 

Obs. — The covenant was founded upon a theocracy, that is, a go- 
vernment of the state by the immediate direction of God ; Jehovah 
condescended to reign over Israel in the same direct manner in which 
10* • 



114 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

an earthly king reigns over his people. Israel is appointed to be a 
lioly nation, that is, separated from all that is common, and destined 
for divine purposes ; Israel is the Lord's first-born (4 : 22), chosen 
before all other nations, and is, therefore, a priestly nation, the 
guardian, preserver and mediator of the divine revelations for all 
nations. 

2. Exod. ch. 19, 20. — The people accept of these terms, and 
prepare to receive the new Law on the third day \ the announce- 
ment is made that whosoever toucheth the border of the holy 
mount, whether it be man or beast, shall be put to death. On 
the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick 
cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding 
loud. Moses brought forth the trembling people out of the 
camp, to meet with God at the lower part of the mount. " Mount 
Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended 
upon it in fire ; the whole mount quaked greatly," and the voice 
of the trumpet waxed louder and louder. And the Lord spake 
the Ten Words or Commandments (see § 52, B); "and all the 
people saw the thunclerings and the lightnings, and the noise of 
the trumpet, and the mountain smoking." 

Obs. 1. — The Decalogue (that is, the Ten Commandments) is a 
brief summary of the whole Law. The first commandment indicates 
the source of all obedience to the Law, namely, love to God ; the last 
indicates the source of all transgressions of the Law, namely, evil 
lust. The Decalogue was written on two tables of stone, with the 
finger of God (31 : 18). The first table requires love to God in its 
various modes of expression ; the second, requires that love to our 
neighbor which proceeds from love to God ; the duty of loving 
parents as the representatives of God, occupies, in some aspects, an 
intermediate position, but, nevertheless, belongs essentially to the 
first table (Matt. 22 : 37-40; 1 Tim. 1 : 5). The negative form 
(" thou shalt not" — ) of nearly all the ten commandments, presenting 
them as prohibitions, indicates that a propensity and an inclination 
to sin already exist in man. 

Obs. 2. — The law contains a blessing: " Ye shall keep my statutes 
and my judgments: which, if a man do, he shall live in them" 
(Lev. 18 : 5); it also contains a curse: "Cursed be he that con- 
firmeth not all the words of this law to do them." (Deut. 27 : 26.) 
It is introduced between the promise (Abraham) and the fulfilment 
.(Christ), in order that it might be " a schoolmaster (rtatSaycoyoV) to 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 115 

oring us unto Christ." (Gal. 3 : 24.) It was designed to give the 
knowledge of sin, and of the curse which sin deserved, as well as of 
man's need of redemption, and awaken a desire to obtain it ; by such 
services the law was designed to prepare man for redemption. The 
ceremonial law, which impressively sets forth the sinfulness of man, 
served, besides, as a shadow, or type, to indicate a future salvation, 
and to prepare the way for it. The law had " a shadow of good 
things to come, and not the very image of the things." (Heb. 10 : 1.) 
"Let no man judge you," says the apostle to Christians, "in meat 
or in drink, or in respect of a holy-day, or of the new-moon, or of 
the sabbath-days : which are a shadow of good things to come, but 
the body is of Christ." (Col. 2 : 16, 17.) (The Law is the shadow 
thrown backward on the Old Testament by the salvation offered in 
Christ, which God's counsel determined before to grant (Acts 4 : 28), 
and which was, consequently, already present to the view of God.) 

3. Exod. ch. 24. — The people stood afar off, and said to 
Moses : u Speak thou with us, and we will hear : but let not God 
speak with us, lest we die." (20 : 19.) Moses builded an altar 
and twelve pillars, sacrificed upon it, and sprinkled half of the 
blood on the altar. And he read in the audience of the people 
the book of the covenant in which he had written all the words 
and commandments of Jehovah hitherto spoken. The people 
answered : " All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obe- 
dient." Then Moses took the other half of the blood, and 
sprinkled it both on the book (Heb. 9 : 19) and on the people. 
Afterwards, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu (§ 37. Obs. 2), and 
seventy of the elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. 
They saw God, and did eat and drink (24 : 11), namely, at the 
sacrificial repast of the covenant-offering and offering of consecra- 
tions. (See § 48. Obs. 1.) 

Obs. — The people did not obtain, in the Old Testament, the full 
possession of the priestly dignity and privileges, because they did 
not yet venture to approach God, but still needed a human mediator ; 
hence arose the necessity of a particular priesthood, notwithstanding 
the priestly vocation of the whole people. 



116 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§44. The Golden Calf. — The Renewed Tables of the Law. 

1. Exod. ch. 32, 33. — While Moses delayed to come down 
out of the mount, the people grew weary of waiting, and said to 
Aaron : " Up, make us gods which shall go before us ; for as for 
this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, 
we know not what is become of him." Aaron made a molten 
calf of the golden ornaments of their wives and children, which 
were willingly contributed, built an altar, and made proclamation : 
" To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah." While the people below eat, 
drink, dance, and play before the new idol, the Lord says to 
Moses : " Go, get thee down : for thy people, which thou broughtest 
out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves — now, 
therefore, let me alone — that I may consume them: and I will 
make of thee a great nation." Thus the Lord places the case in 
the hands of Moses ; but Moses understands the duty which the 
office of a mediator imposes on him, and does not let the Lord 
alone; with great boldness and confidence he gives back to the 
Lord, to whom they belong, the words : " thy people — thou hast 
brought out," and appeals to Jehovah's oath, and to the covenant 
made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then it repented the 
Lord of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. When 
Moses, on descending, sees the calf and the dancing, his anger 
waxes hot ; even as the people had broken the covenant of Je- 
hovah, so he casts out of his hands the tables of the law, which 
are the records of that covenant, and breaks them beneath the 
mount. He grinds the calf to powder, strews it upon the stream 
flowing down from Horeb, and makes the people drink of it. 
Aaron is first summoned to render an account, and then Moses, 
standing in the gate of the camp, cries aloud : " Who is on the 
Lord's side ? let him come unto me." The children of Levi 
gather around him, and slay with the sword, three thousand of 
the traitors, who continue obstinately to reject the offered amnesty. 
By this act of obedience, which, although painful, was promptly 
performed, the children of Levi remove the curse which lay on 
their house (Gen. 49 : 5-7), and receive, through Moses, a pre- 
liminary consecration to their future office. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 117 

2. Exod. cli. 33, 34. — The people repent; Moses pitched the 
tabernacle, which he used provisionally, at a distance from the 
camp, made atonement for the people, again ascended the mount, 
and returned after the expiration of forty days, with two new 
tables, on which the Lord had again written the Law. He puts 
a vail on his face, which still reflects the brightness of the pre- 
sence of God, for the people feared to approach him. The Taber- 
nacle is constructed, and, in the mean time, the Law is continually 
enlarged, and approaches its completion. 

§45. The Tabernacle* 

1. Exod. ch. 25-40. — The Sanctuary, with all its appurte- 
nances, is made of materials which are contributed so readily and 
abundantly, that Moses restrains the people from offering further 
aid, by an express commandment ; the goods brought from Egypt 
were, doubtless, here found available. Bezaleel and Aholiab, 
whom God called by name, and filled with his spirit, complete the 
work, after the pattern which God showed to Moses in the mount 
(§ 14. Obs. 3). After they had labored nearly a year, Moses 
reared up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the 
second year after the Exodus. Then a cloud covered the tent of 
the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle 
(40 : 34). 

Obs. — Until the Temple was built, the Tabernacle continued to be 
the only place in which Israel could lawfully offer sacrifices, and 
divine or public worship. It was here only that sacrifices were per- 
mitted to be offered, because it was the ordinary and permanent 
(symbolical) abode of the glory of the Lord. Whenever the Lord 
appeared to an individual elsewhere, sacrifices could be offered in 
that spot also, to the Lord, who was present, for His presence ren- 
dered the offering lawful. But when his immediate presence was 
withdrawn from that spot, the authority to offer sacrifice in it 
cease-d. 

* See the [author's] Treatise : Ueber d. sijmbolische Darstellung der 
Zahlen, &c, in the TheoL Stud. u. KriL, 1844. H. II. pp. 315-370. A fuller 
statement of the points discussed in \\ 45-52 A., is given [by the author] 
in the Chrisloterpe of the year 1849, p. 46-107 ; 1851, p. 262-323 ; 1852, 
p. 284-358. See also the treatise [by the same] : Beitrdge zur Symbolik 
des alttest. Cultus — Erstes Heft: die alttest. Cultusstdtte. Leipzig., 1851. 



118 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

2. As the Tabernacle was intended primarily for the period of 
the wanderings in the wilderness, it was made portable, and con- 
sisted of boards of acacia-wood standing up (26 : 15). It was 
divided into two compartments by a highly-finished linen vail, 
embroidered with cherubs ; the inner of these two, the most holy 
place, or the holy of holies, resembled a perfect cube, the length, 
breadth and height being each ten cubits. It contained the ark 
of the covenant, in which were deposited the tables of the law, 
together with a pot of manna, and, at a later period, Aaron's rod 
that budded (§ 54. 2). The lid or cover of the ark, called the 
mercy-seat (Kapporeth == covering of atonement), was of pure 
gold, supporting on the two ends two cherubs of gold beaten out 
of one piece, bending forward, and with expanded wings. The 
outer apartment was twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in 
breadth and in height, and was called the holy place or sanctuary ; 
before the entrance, on the eastern side, a richly-wrought curtain 
was suspended. Here the altar of incense was placed between the 
golden candlestick with its seven branches (three on each side, 
and one in the middle), and the table of shew-bread, on which 
continually lay twelve loaves, prepared and presented anew every 
Sabbath. All the furniture, with the exception of the candle- 
stick and the mercy-seat, was made of acacia- wood, and, like the 
supports on which the whole rested, was overlaid with gold. The 
interior of the tabernacle displayed throughout costly variegated 
linen hangings, embroidered with figures of cherubs. It was pro- 
tected on the outside from the inclemencies of the weather by 
three additional curtains made of goats' hair and skins. The 
court of the tabernacle, open above, and 100 cubits in length and 
50 cubits in breadth, was enclosed by linen hangings supported 
by pillars ; the entrance on the east side, 20 cubits in breadth, 
was protected by a curtain. In this court, and before the door 
of the tabernacle, was placed the altar of burnt-offering, made of 
acacia- wood, overlaid with copper, and filled with earth ; a copper 
laver stood near it. 

BS . — The significance of the Tabernacle is indicated partly by tho 
purpose for which it was designed, namely, to be the place of divine 
service and sacrifice, and partly, by its name, that is, the tent of as- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 119 

sembling, the tent of the testimony (Numb. 9 : 15), habitation. It was 
there that Jehovah met with Israel, dwelt in Israel, and testified con- 
cerning both his holiness and his grace ; the tabernacle is, conse- 
quently, an image of the kingdom of God in Israel, a type of the 
Christian Church (J 201. 2, Obs.). The court is the symbolical habi- 
tation of the people, while the sanctuary is the habitation of God in 
their midst. The people dwell in the court ; notwithstanding their 
priestly vocation, they are not yet permitted to approach God in a 
direct manner, but may merely draw nigh to the gate of his house ; 
they still need priestly mediators, who enter as the representatives 
of the people, hold communion with God in their place, bring their 
gifts to him, and receive in return the revelations of divine grace for 
the people. The division of the habitation into the sanctuary and 
the holy of holies, or holiest of all (Heb. 9 : 3), declared that in the 
relation subsisting between God and his people, two grades still re- 
mained, from one of which even the priest was excluded, and which 
the high-priest alone, as the head of the entire priesthood, was per- 
mitted to approach, only once every year, and even then only in an 
enveloping cloud of the incense of prayer, and with the atoning 
blood of the offering. The great day of atonement (Lev. ch. 16) was 
the most solemn and important of all the Jewish festival seasons, 
and represented the fulness of all time ; the circumstance that on 
this one day of the year, one individual, at least, of the people, that 
is, he who represented the great idea of a priestly nation as fully 
as the deficiencies of the times allowed, enjoyed the privilege of ap- 
proaching both the higher and the highest grade of the divine gra- 
cious presence, conveyed a valuable lesson — for it taught that the 
approach to the inmost abode of God, and the unveiled vision of his 
glory, should not be unconditionally and eternally denied to the 
priest and the priestly nation. To this ascent in the relation which 
God sustains to his people, from the sanctuary to the holiest of all, 
a correspondence is found in the ascent, in the relation sustained by 
the people to God, by which faith rises and is completed in sight or 
vision. The impress of perfection is stamped on the holiest of all by 
its perfect cubic form ; the darkness which prevails in it implies that 
He dwells therein whom no man hath seen, nor can see, dwelling in 
the light which no man can approach unto (1 Tim. 6 : 16), a light 
before which the feeble eyes of the earth-born child of man growa 
blind. 

The holiest of all contains the mercy-seat, the throne of Jehovah. 
Although God appears here as Jehovah, in condescension, grace and 
mercy, his glory remains so great, even in his condescension, that no 



120 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

mortal eye is able to endure it, and his holiness is so overpowering, 
that no sinful man can support it— even the high-priest can approach 
only in a cloud of incense and with the blood of the offering. The 
mercy-seat is placed on the ark containing the testimony or covenant 
(the two tables) ; the secure position of the latter indicates that the 
covenant or its record is the most precious treasure of Israel, worthy 
of being most carefully guarded ; the covering, which is the mercy- 
seat, declares that the dwelling of God among the people is made 
possible by the covenant, depends on it, and is sustained by it. That 
mercy-seat is propitiatory ; the throne becomes an altar in the most 
exalted sense ; and here the highest and most perfect act of expiation 
in the Old Testament service is completed. The cloud, the symbol 
of the presence of Jehovah, descended between the wings of the Che- 
rubim, and these (Exod. 25 : 20) look in adoration on the mystery at 
their feet ("which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Pet. 
1 : 12). (See \ 12, 3. Obs. 1, and § 14. Obs. 3.) 

The people offer in the sanctuary to their divine King the gifts 
which conform to the covenant, and establish it ; hence the altar of 
incense, the candlestick and the table of shew-bread, are placed 
there. The act of burning incense is a symbol of prayer (Ps. 
141 : 2 ; Eev. 5 : 8 and 8 : 3, 4 ; compare Isa. 6 : 3, 4 ; Luke 1 : 10 ; 
Lev. 16 : 12, 13 ; Num. 16 : 46, 47) ; Israel, the covenant-people, is, 
consequently, a people of prayer. In the candlestick, with its light, 
an image is presented, according to Zechariah (ch. 4, and Rev. 1 : 
20), of the people clothed with spiritual knowledge. Twelve loaves, 
evidently referring to the twelve tribes, lie on the table of shew- 
bread, and are renewed every Sabbath. It appears from John 6 : 27, 
and 4 : 32, 34, that, according to the symbolical conceptions of He- 
brew antiquity, the faithful performance of the duties of any calling 
that proceeded from God, was regarded as labor performed for spi- 
ritual food. The loaves of bread are, literally, the fruits of bodily 
labor performed on the field, in the land assigned to the people by 
the Lord ; when they are regarded in a symbolical aspect, they are 
the fruits of spiritual labor in the field of the kingdom of God, in the 
vineyard of the Lord, the fruits of sanctification, and good works. 
When the people of Israel are faithful to the covenant, they, accord- 
ingly, appear before their God as a people of prayer, of light, and 
of good works. 

The people are sinful, but are appointed to bo cleansed ; in contra- 
distinction to the priests, they abide in the court surrounding the 
tabernacle, and hence the altar of burnt-offering, on which atoning 
sacrifices are offered, is placed in this court. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 121 

§ 46. The Priests and the Levites. {Office and Garments.*) 

1. The Lord chose the whole tribe of Levi for himself and 
for the service of the tabernacle, instead of the first-born in all 
the tribes, who belonged to him (Num. 3 : 12, 13); these were 
afterwards presented at the tabernacle, and then redeemed (Num. 
18 : 16). It was the office of the whole tribe, to take charge 
of the Law and the revelations of God, to communicate these to 
the people, and to pronounce judgment in accordance with them. 
The family of Aaron was chosen from the whole tribe of Levi, 
for the purpose of performing the duties of the priesthood, which 
belonged to them exclusively. The other Levites, including the 
descendants of Moses, were merely the assistants or ministers 
of the priests, in performing the service of the tabernacle. The 
High-priest was the head of the whole tribe, and his office was 
hereditary. 

2. It was the special office of the priests to be mediators be- 
tween Jehovah and the people, to make atonement to God for 
them, and to perform, in shadows and types, that work which, 
in the fulness of the time, Christ should accomplish in very deed 
and in truth. The functions, privileges and general duties of the 
priests, contradistinguished from those of the people, as well as 
of the Levites, are thus set forth by the Lord himself on a cer- 
tain occasion : " The Lord will show who are his } and who is 
holy ; and will cause him to come near unto him : even him 
whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him." 
(Num. 16 : 5 ; § 54. 2.) The duty of the priests, accordingly, 
consisted chiefly in offering sacrifice (§ 48), as a symbol of atone- 
luent — in burning incense, as a symbol of intercession — and in 
blessing the people, as the fruit of the former acts. 

Obs. 1. — The characteristic features of the priesthood, which indi- 
cate its nature and design, according to Numb. 16 : 5 (to be his, to 
be holy, to be chosen, to come near unto Jehovah), already occur in 
Exodus 19 : 6 (§ 43. 1), as those of the whole people. In the latter 
case, however, the people are contrasted with Pagans, while, in the 
former, the priests are contrasted with the people of Israel them- 
selves. The calling of Israel, in its relation to other nations, illus- 
trates the calling of the priest, in its relation to the holy nation — he 
11 



122 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

is the priest of the priestly nation. The office of the priest did not 
derive its origin from any act of man, but from the choice and ap- 
pointment of God, and the circumstance that the priesthood was 
made hereditary, permanently excluded from it all human influence 
and control, and rendered a personal choice or decision impossible. 

Obs. 2. — The blessing which the priests were directed to pronounce 
is recorded in Numb. 6 : 23-27 : " On this wise ye shall bless the 
children of Israel, saying unto them : — The Lord Mess thee, and keep 
thee : — The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto 
thee : — The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee 
peace! — And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, 
and I will bless them." This formula of benediction already con- 
tains the whole mystery of the divine Trinity and of the redemption 
which was to be accomplished by it, in an undeveloped form, or like 
a germ ; it was, undoubtedly, designed to aid effectually in connect- 
ing with the religious knowledge of the people a certain conscious- 
ness (to be afterwards rendered more distinct) of the personality of 
the one God unfolded in three persons, and operating in a three-fold 
manner in the progress of the work of man's salvation. The name 
of. Jehovah is put upon the people thrice — it is connected with the 
face or countenance of Jehovah twice (the face is the visible, mani- 
fested part, the indication of that which is invisible and concealed 
within). In the first member of the formula, prayer is offered for 
the blessing and protection of Jehovah, the eternal, invisible and 
original source of all blessings, of salvation and of life. In the second, 
a petition occurs for the light and grace of the face of Jehovah, the 
God who is revealed, who is the " true Light which lighteth every 
man" (John : 9) ; "of whose fulness have all we received, and grace for 
grace." (John 1 : 16.) In the third, supplication is made for the 
peace of the countenance (face) of Jehovah, the God who is made 
known to us by the communication and appropriation of salvation, 
by which he conveys true peace to our hearts. (§ 2. 2). 

3. The garments of the priests, which designated their office 
(Exodus, ch. 28), were not worn by the Levites. The priestly 
garments were very simple ; the chief article was a tunic made 
with sleeves, and extending from the neck to the ankles; the 
material and the color (white linen) were symbols of purity and 
holiness. In addition to this official garment, the high-priest wore 
a blue robe or coat, adorned on the hem with pomegranates and 
bells of gold; of these, the former were symbols of the Word 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 123 

(Prov. 25 : 11), and the bell was a symbol of proclamation. He 
also wore an ephod attached to the shoulders, made of costly ma- 
terials, and embroidered with various colors ; the breast- plate was 
attached to it in front, by means of rings and chains made of 
gold. This breast-plate was adorned with twelve precious stones, 
on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved ; it was a 
memorial, implying that the high-priest, as the highest mediator 
of the old covenant, should always bear the people upon his heart 
(Exodus, 28 : 29). The Urim and Thummim, (that is, lights 
and perfections, or perfect light), placed either within or upon 
the breast-plate, were the oracle of the high-priest ; through them 
he obtained an immediate decision of Jehovah the King, in all 
theocratic questions — the mode is unknown. A small plate of 
gold was, besides, attached to the priestly mitre, bearing the in- 
scription : " Holiness to the Lord." 

§ 47. Continuation (Dwellings — Consecration of the Priests 
and Levites.) 

1. The Lord announced to the whole tribe of Levi: "Thou 
shalt have no inheritance in the land — I am thine inheritance." 
(Numb. 18 : 20.) Jehovah was the Lord and proprietor of the 
whole soil ; each occupant accordingly brought a tribute consist- 
ing of the first-fruits and the tenth of his whole income to the 
house of the Lord ; from these the support of the Levites and the 
priests was derived ; additional portions, taken from the sacri- 
ficial offerings, were, besides, granted to the latter. Forty-eight 
cities, in different parts of the country, were appropriated to the 
residence of the whole tribe ; thirteen of these were assigned to 
the priests (Joshua 21 : 19); six of these cities were also ap- 
pointed to be cities of refuge (Numb. ch. 35), namely, Kedesh, 
Shechem, and Hebron, on the western side of Jordan; and Bezer, 
Ramoth, and Golan, on the eastern side. (Joshua 20 : 7, 8.) 

Obs. — It was the object of the provision by which particular places 
of refuge were appointed (to which the altar in the court of the 
tabernacle belonged), to correct certain gross abuses connected with 
an ancient custom, as far as possible, by the controlling power of the 
law : the acts of the avenger of blood were sanctioned by the estab- 



124 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

lished opinions of the ancient world, particularly of the oriental 
nations. This custom, which required the nearest relative of a mur- 
dered person to avenge the murder, originated, in an external aspect, 
in the ancient patriarchal mode of life ; but it may be traced to a 
deeper source, namely, to the vivid conceptions of the ancient world 
respecting the sanctity of family-ties. In this view, the custom was 
tolerated by the theocratic law, but was subjected to necessary and 
salutary restrictions ; for the slayer who reached a place of refuge, 
was secure, for the present moment, from the attack of the avenger 
of blood (goel). If the result of the judicial investigation which 
was instituted, showed that the murder had been committed design- 
edly, the offender was delivered to the avenger of blood ; if a contrary 
result was obtained, the slayer remained in the city of refuge until 
the death of the high-priest ; when that event occurred, which desig- 
nated a renewal of all the theocratical institutions, he was permitted 
to leave the city and return to his home, without being exposed to 
further danger. 

2. The Levites, on commencing their official duties, were so- 
lemnly consecrated to the service of the Lord, after sacrifices had 
been offered (Num. ch. 8). They belonged to the Lord, in place 
of the first-born of all the tribes ; this substitution was implied 
by the act of the elders who laid their hands upon them, after 
which they were icaved unto the Lord, that is, conducted to and 
fro before the tabernacle : thus they were consecrated. The con- 
secration of the priests was attended with additional ceremonies 
and greater solemnity (Exod. ch. 29, and Lev. ch. 8). After the 
solemn washing with water, the investiture and the anointing had 
taken place, sacrifices were offered, the altar was sprinkled with a 
part of the blood, and another part was put upon the ear, hand, 
and foot, of the right side of the priest who was to be admitted 
to the active duties of the office : the sacrificial repast was the 
conclusion of the ceremony. 

Obs. — The circumstance that the Levites were waved, implied that 
they belonged to the tabernacle, and were obligated to serve Him 
who dwelt therein ; in this respect it constituted their consecration 
to their particular office, which required them to render all necessary 
services at the tabernacle, with the exception of those which were 
assigned specially to the priests. When the priest was consecrated, 
the blood, with which reconciliation was made (Lev. 8 : 15), was put 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 125 

upon his ear, hand, and foot, for the purpose of teaching him to re- 
gard his whole life and strength, as sanctified and consecrated. The 
consecration of the ear referred to his duty to receive and observe 
the revelations, commands, and prohibitions of God ; that of the 
hand, referred to the duty to communicate to the people that which 
he received from God ; and that of the foot, referred to the sanctifi- 
cation of his whole walk before the Lord. 

3. Lev. ch. 9, 10. — The first offerings of Aaron were con- 
sumed by fire from heaven ; the commandment had been given 
(6 : 12, 13), that this fire on the altar should "never go out." 
Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's eldest sons, offered strange fire, con- 
trary to the express command of the Lord (Exod. 30 : 9). 
Therefore, fire went out from the Lord and destroyed them. 

§ 48. Sacrifices.* 

Lev. ch. 1-7. — The signification of sacrifices, in general, may 
be ascertained from Lev. 17 : 11 : " The life of the flesh is in the 
blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar ; to make an 
atonement for your souls : for it is the blood that malceth an 
atonement for the soul." It is the design of sacrifices to make an 
atonement for sin. Now, sin is brought forth by lust ; the seat 
and source of lust are in the soul (Jam. 1 : 14, 15), and the soul 
dwells in the blood — thus, sin proceeds from the blood. Hence, 
the punishment is directed against the blood, the seat of the soul. 
" The wages of sin is death. " Rom. 6 : 23. The animal which, 
is sacrificed, suffers death vicariously, or in the place of the 
sinner, and God accepts of this substitution. " Without shedding 
of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9 : 22) ; nevertheless, " it is not 
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away 
sins" (Heb. 10 : 4), for the animal is not offered by a voluntary 
act of its own ; its life is no real equivalent, and the substitution 
derives no validity from any natural and necessary bond of union 
and communion. Hence, the sacrifice of the animal could not 
win forgiveness by its own inherent power, but merely serve as a 
shadow and type of the sacrifice of Christ, who, being God and 

* Consult, in connection with this section, and portions of §§ 45-52 A, 
the [author's] treatise : Das Mosaische Opfer, ein Beitrag, &c., Mitau, 



126 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

man, poured out his soul unto death (Isai. 53 : 12), and whose 
sufferings and death possess infinite value and eternal validity 
(§ 121). 

Obs. 1. — He who brought the sacrifice, conducted the animal to 
the tabernacle, laid his hands on its head, and thus transferred, sym- 
bolically, his own sinfulness to the animal, and consecrated it as his 
substitute ; he then killed it himself, in order to indicate that, on ac- 
count of his sins, he deserved the death which the animal suffered 
in his place. The priest took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar 
in the court of the tabernacle, as a seal of the atonement which God 
had accepted and acknowledged. The whole, or a part of the flesh 
of the animal, was burnt on the altar. The fire, an image of purifi- 
cation and sanctification, caused the offering to ascend toward heaven, 
to Jehovah ; the flesh, including the sinews and bones, or the body, 
is the organ of all action — the act of burning, hence, denoted the 
sanctification and surrender of all the members and powers of the 
individual, to Jehovah, as the consequence of the atonement (justifi- 
cation followed by sanctification). With the flesh were consumed 
the meat-offerings and drink-offerings, namely, bread (Lev. ch. 2) 
and wine (Exod. 29 : 40), with the addition of oil, frankincense, and 
salt. The bread and wine are emblematic of the fruits of sanctifi- 
cation (the fruits of spiritual labor in the field of the kingdom of 
God, and in the vineyard of the Lord). The oil is an emblem of the 
Holy Spirit, by whose grace good works are performed ; the frankin- 
cense denotes that these are commenced and completed with prayer, 
and the salt denotes that they are incorruptible and enduring wit- 
nesses of the covenant of grace made with Jehovah (Rev. 14 : 13). 
The flesh of certain offerings (peace-offerings) was not entirely 
burned ; the larger portion was reserved for a sacrificial repast. Je- 
hovah was the host : the person who brought the offering ate at his 
table, as if he were admitted to the abode and table of Jehovah. 
Hence, the sacrificial repast was emblematic of the highest sacra- 
mental communion with Jehovah. 

Obs. 2. — Animal sacrifices were of four kinds: burnt-offerings, 
peace-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings. The last two 
were intended to make atonement for particular sins, which had been 
committed through ignorance ($ 50) ; (deliberate and presumptuous 
sins were punished with death, Num. 15 : 27-30) ; trespass-offerings 
referred to sins which were committed under circumstances allowing 
a temporal restitution or indemnity, while sin-offerings referred to 
those for which the offender could not make amends. As every trans- 
gression of the law was followed by exclusion from the theocratical 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 127 

communion, these two classes of sacrifices were appointed as the 
means of restoration to the theocratical community. The burnt- 
offerings and the peace-offerings, on the other hand, did not refer to 
particular sins, but to man's sinfulness in general, which still adheres 
to him, even in a state of grace ; they did not design to restore to 
the theocratical community, but, presupposing that the bond of union 
was not dissolved, they purposed to give additional strength to that 
bond. The whole of the burnt-offering was consumed, but only the 
fat of the peace-offerings, considered as the best portion, was con- 
sumed ; the remainder was reserved for the sacrificial repast. In the 
burnt-offering, consequently, sanctification, in its relation to Jehovah, 
is the prominent feature, while, in the peace-offering, the sacramental 
communion with him is principally set forth, and, on this account, 
it was always preceded by the former, even as burnt-offerings and 
peace-offerings necessarily followed both sin-offerings and trespass- 
offerings. 

§ 49. The Festivals. 

1. Among the sacred seasons of the Israelites, the most pro- 
minent are those, in the arrangement of which, the number 
seven predominates (the sabbath-seasons). The following belong 
to these: — 1. The Sahhath-clay, referring, retrospectively, to 
the resting of God after the creation (Exod. 20 : 8, 11), and, 
prospectively, to the eternal rest remaining to the people of God 
(Heb. 4:9); it was observed as a day of sacred rest in domestic 
life; the religious services were characterized by additional sacri- 
fices and a holy convocation (Lev. 23 : 3). — 2. The Feast of 
Trumpets, or the sabbatical new-moon (Lev. 23 : 24; Num. 28 : 
11-15) — the seventh new-moon (Tisri) of the year, the begin- 
ning of the civil year; the new year was introduced with the 
sound of the trumpets. — 3. The Salbath-year, or every seventh 
year (Lev. 25 : 1-8) ; it was a year of rest for the land, which 
was left untilled. The spontaneous produce of the field, the vine- 
yard, and the fruit-tree, belonged to the poor and to the stranger^ 
and was bestowed even on the beasts of the field (Exod. 23 : 11). 
No debts could be collected during the sabbatical year (Deut. 15 : 
1, 2). It was further commanded (Deut. 31 : 10-13), that, at 
the feast of tabernacles, occurring in the course of this year, the 
whole law should always be read in the hearing of all Israel. — 4. 
The Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25 : 8-17); it was observed on every 



128 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

recurrence of the forty-ninth year, but as it commenced with the 
Day of Atonement, a portion of the fiftieth year was embraced 
in it. All servants of Hebrew origin were restored to liberty, 
namely, those who had voluntarily remained in servitude in the 
seventh year of service, or had not yet reached the seventh year 
of their service ; all estates which had been sold (or, rather, put 
in pledge) during the past forty-nine years, were restored, without 
any compensation, to the original (hereditary) owner. Jehovah 
promised to supply the deficiency of the harvest in the years 
during whigh the ground remained untilled, by a more abundant 
blessing in the preceding years (Lev. 25 : 20-22). 

Obs. — The year of Jubilee was a type of the great year of that 
widely-extended Redemption [restitutio in integrum) in which all 
bondage shall cease, all debts be cancelled, all that was lost be reco- 
vered, and a new age of the world begin. (See Acts 3 : 20, 21.) 

2. The annual festivals, or feasts of convocation, constituted a 
second class of festivals; on these occasions, every adult male 
among the people was required to appear before the sanctuary 
(Exod. 34 : 23, 24) — an arrangement which maintained the life 
and vigor of the religious and national union of the scattered 
tribes. These feasts were three in number (Lev. ch. 23; Num. 
ch. 28 ; Deut. ch. 16), and possessed a two-fold character, an 
historical and an agricultural. The latter is explained by the 
circumstance that agriculture assumed a religious aspect in the 
promised land ; for the land which Israel occupied and cultivated, 
was the lioly land, the property of Jehovah, granted to them on 
certain conditions, among which was the obligation to pay a 
tribute to Jehovah, in the form of the first-fruits and the tithes. 
Agriculture was, besides, appointed to constitute the material 
basis of the political organization and popular usages of Israel, in 
contradistinction from the previous nomadic life to which they 
had been accustomed. (1.) The Passover, or Feast of unleavened 
Bread; it was the festival which introduced the ecclesiastical or 
sacred year, and commemorated the deliverance of the people 
from Egypt, and the grace which spared their first-born. It was 
also the first harvest-festival of the year. The paschal repast, 
which had been instituted on the occasion of the Exodus 
(§ 40. 2), was repeated on the evening preceding the festival, the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION 1ft' 

fourteenth of Nisan (Abib), with the same ceremoj^ r ,, except 
that, in place of the door-posts, the altar was sprinkled with the 
blood of the paschal lamb. The festival continued eight days, 
during which all leaven was carefully removed from every house ; 
the first day and the last possessed a sabbatical character. 
(2.) The Feast of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the former, also 
called the Feast of Weeks > and of First Fruits ; it was a harvest- 
festival, since the harvest was completed which had commenced 
with the Passover. It lasted one day, which possessed a sab- 
batical character. The sheaf of the first-fruits had been presented 
at the Passover ; at this festival, the first-fruits of bread made 
of the new grain were presented. In connection with this agri- 
cultural feature, the festival presented one which was historical, 
inasmuch as* the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai was also 
commemorated on this day. (3.) The Feast of Tabernacles ; it 
commenced on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tisri, con- 
tinued eight days, and was the most joyful of all the festivals. 
It referred, on the one hand, to the journeying in the wilderness, 
and hence, the people forsook their houses, and dwelt in tents 
made of the branches of trees, and it was, on the other hand, a 
thanksgiving festival, in reference to the autumnal harvest (the 
feast of ingathering (Exod. 23 : 16) — fruit, oil and wine). 

Obs. — As the months of the Hebrews were lunar months, the 
fourteenth and fifteenth days, on which the festivals of the Passover 
and of Tabernacles were observed, always occurred at the time of 
full moon. There was a symbolical meaning in this circumstance, 
for the full of the moon, as a measure of time (Ps. 104 : 19 ; Gen. 
1 : 14), designated the fulness of the time, (Gal. 4:4). And, as the 
full moon gives a festive appearance to the heavens, so the period 
which commemorates the gracious ways of God diffuses a cheerful 
light over the whole of life on earth. This symbolical aspect does 
not belong to the feast of Pentecost, in consequence of natural causes. 

3. The great Day of Atonement was also annually observed 
(Lev. ch. 16, and ch. 23; Num. ch. 29); it occurred on the 
tenth day of the month Tisri, and, as a day of humiliation and 
fasting, universally observed, it was the most important day of 
the year ; an atonement was made for the sins of all the people, 
in a peculiarly expressive and solemn manner. 



130 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. — In accordance with the importance of the occasion, the 
high-priest alone officiated on the great day of Atonement. After 
he had brought a sin-offering for himself and his house, he cast lots 
upon two goats, one lot for a sin-offering for the Lord, and the other 
lot " for Azazel ;" [Lev. 16 : 8, Eng. vers, marg.] The blood of the 
first goat was carried by him into the holiest of all, on this day (on 
which alone he was permitted to enter) and sprinkled on the mercy- 
seat. The sins for which atonement was thus made, were put upon 
the head of the second goat, which was sent away alive into the 
wilderness to Azazel (the evil demon, represented as dwelling in the 
wilderness), in order that the latter might ascertain all that had 
been done, and know that he no longer retained power over Israel. 
This whole transaction expressed the thought that the atonement 
made on this day was so complete, and so plain and undeniable, that 
even Satan the Accuser (Job, ch. 1 and 2 ; Zech. ch. 3 ; Rev. 12 : 
10, 11) was compelled to acknowledge it. In the sacrifice of this 
day, consequently, the sacrifice of Christ is shadowed and typified 
more clearly than in any other, even as we read in Heb. 9 : 12: 
" By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having 
obtained eternal redemption for us." 

§ 50. Purifications. 

According to the declarations of the Law, several circumstances 
connected with the physical life of man were of such a nature as 
to defile, and, consequently, to exclude him from the communion 
of the sanctuary. Among these death, with the corruption which 
followed it, occupied the first place. Death entered into the 
world by sin ; death and corruption are, consequently, the fruits 
which sin brings forth in the bodily nature of man, and they de- 
pict, in alarming colours, the results of sin in his spiritual nature 
— the dissolution of all bonds of union and alliance, the decom- 
position of all that had existed in coherence. — In addition to 
death, every condition of the living body which presented fea- 
tures resembling that of the dead body, also rendered unclean. 
The Leprosy, in particular, belonged to this class; the spots which 
denoted the disease, corresponded to the spots which are seen in 
a corpse, and the disease itself, in its progress, destroys the vigor 
of life, and is, ultimately, the decomposition of the living body. 
Further, according to the view of the Law, not only abnormal, 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 131 

but also the normal functions of the sexual sphere of life, ren- 
dered unclean, and excluded from communion with Jehovah, the 
Holy One. This view depended principally on the polarity which 
exists between generation and corruption, between the birth and 
death of man; the movements of his sinful, expiring life occur 
between these two poles, and his generation and birth only origi- 
nate a life which is, from the beginning, subject to sin, to death 
and to corruption (Ps. 51 : 5). — Even as sins which were com- 
mitted in ignorance and without premeditation, required an atone- 
ment (§ 48. Obs. 2), since they were, nevertheless, manifestations 
and witnesses of the sinfulness that is in man, so, too, these con- 
ditions of man, which partook of the nature of death, or resem- 
bled it, required an atonement, although they were, partly, in- 
voluntary and undesired, and, partly, resulted from the present 
order of nature. The law, however, distinguished between slight 
and grave cases of uncleanness ; the former, in which the un- 
cleanness was not communicated by the touch of the person, and 
which continued until the evening, terminated after the indi- 
vidual had simply washed; uncleanness of the latter kind was 
communicated by contact to others, and could not be removed 
without the atonement made by a sacrifice. 

Obs. — The leprosy was followed by the deprivation not only of all 
religious but also of all civil privileges. After it was healed, the 
symbolical act of cleansing the individual, in which two birds were 
employed, set forth that he had recovered his health, that is, that he 
was restored from death to life. Certain sacrifices were offered, and 
he was then fully received once more into the theocratical commu- 
nion (Lev. ch. 14). — He who touched a corpse, or the bones of the 
dead, a grave, or any place in which a corpse was deposited or its 
furniture, became unclean during a period of seven days, after which 
he was cleansed. This process was performed by sprinkling him 
with the water of separation, which was prepared and preserved for 
this special purpose. Whenever the necessity arose, a red heifer (the 
color of which was an emblem of the fulness of life and of vital 
power) was brought forth without the camp, and slain as a sin-offer- 
ing for the whole people, who were subject to death, which is the 
wages of sin ; it was burnt together with cedar-wood (incorruptible- 
ness), with wool (life), dyed in scarlet, and with hyssop (purifica- 
tion, Ps. 51 : 7) ; the ashes were mixed with running water (lye), 



132 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

and then employed in sprinkling and cleansing him who had touched 
a dead body. (Numb. ch. 19.) * 

§ 51. Laws respecting Food. 

As the whole life of the Israelites was subject to the authority 
of the law, and controlled by the salvation which was to be re- 
vealed (Gal. 3 : 24; Col. 2 : 16, 17), all that they ate or drank 
was placed under the same influence. — The reason of the distinc- 
tion made between clean and unclean beasts, in reference to food, 
is stated in Lev. 20 : 24-26 (with which compare Acts 10 : 10- 
16) : because Jehovah separated Israel from other people, in order 
that they should be holy unto him, and adopted a peculiar mode 
of separation, even in that mode, and for that reason, Israel is 
commanded to make a difference between clean and unclean beasts 
and fowls. — Thus the people are reminded, even by their daily 
meals, not only of the divine mercy in choosing them before all 
other people, but also of their peculiar calling and destination, 
and their duty to avoid the practices of the Pagans, whom the 
Lord had cast out before them ; the choice of clean animals was 
an image and reflection, in the irrational world, of that transac- 
tion in the rational world by which Israel was chosen and ap- 
pointed to be a holy nation. This aspect of the subject, however, 
presupposes another, namely, that, in company with the human 
race, nature itself lay under the curse of destruction (§ 12. 3), 
but that both were also comprehended in the hope of redemption 
(§ 13. Obs.). — The eating of blood, and, consequently, of ail 
animals whose blood had not been entirely poured forth when 
they were legitimately slain, was again prohibited (§ 18) ; death 
was declared to be the penalty when the act was committed. The 
reason of the prohibition lies in the sacred character of blood as 
the means of making atonement. (Lev. 17 : 11.) 

Obs. — According to Lev. ch. 11, and Deut. ch. 14, all those beasts 
were unclean which do not both chew the cud and divide the hoof — ■ 



* See the [author's] treatise : Ueber die symbolische Dignitcet des in 
Num. 19 — verordneten Ritus, in the Theol. Stud. u. Krit. 1846, pp. 629- 
705. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 133 

those fishes were unclean which have not both fins and scales (am- 
phibious creatures were, consequently, also unclean) — those birds 
were unclean, which are known as birds of prey, as well as insects 
(with the exception of certain species of locusts), and flying mama- 
lia. — The precise reason for which some were declared to be clean 
and others unclean, may have varied in different animals (while, as 
a general principle, it originated in that view according to which na- 
ture no longer retains its primitive purity and integrity) ; thus, some 
animals are more impressive emblems of human corruption than 
others ; some are naturally regarded by man with loathing and dis- 
like ; the flesh of some is incapable of being eaten, or is unwhole- 
some, &c. — The laws respecting food make a discrimination among 
living creatures, but impose no restriction on the choice of vegetable 
food. For, as animals belong to a higher grade of life, and approach 
nearer than plants to the human race, the conceptions of a blessing 
and a curse, of life and death, of salvation and ruin, are more clearly 
and precisely connected with them — indeed, the idea of that which 
is odious and injurious, or the opposite, in a moral and religious 
point of view, can be expressed plainly and impressively in them 
alone. — But when the Pagan world, which is represented by the un- 
clean animals, was received into the kingdom of God, and the dis- 
tinction between Jews and Gentiles was removed, the religious obli- 
gation to observe the laws respecting food naturally ceased to exist. 
(See Acts 10 : 15 ; Col. 2 : 16, 17 ; and \ 168. 2.) 

§ 52. A. Vows. 

Vows, in general (Lev. ch. 27 : Numb. ch. 30), originate in 
any want which is felt, and which is brought into connection 
with religion. The theocratic legislation required the immediate 
and complete performance of vows that had once been pro- 
nounced, but guarded, in the most express terms, against any 
attempt to overrate them as works (Deut. 23 : 22). All articles 
which were regarded as the property of an individual, and even 
the person of the vower himself, could become the property of 
Jehovah by a vow, but might, nevertheless, be redeemed, with 
the exception of animals which were suitable for sacrifice. In the 
single case of " the devoted thing" (avdOepa, Lev. 27 : 21, 28), 
the right of redemption was not allowed. 

Obs. — The most important of the vows which regarded thevower's 
own person, was the vow of the Nazareate (Nazariteship). The Naza- 
12 



134 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 

rite (that is, separated) engaged by a vow, which he voluntarily 
made, to abstain from all intoxicating liquors during a specified time, 
and allow no razor to come upon his head. If he defiled himself by 
touching the dead, he was required to commence the term embraced 
in the vow, a second time (Numb. 6 : 1-21). At a later period, 
parents sometimes dedicated a child, even before his birth, to a Naza- 
reate comprehending the whole period of his life. — The fundamental 
conception of the Nazareate is that of separation from the world and 
consecration to Jehovah ; thence proceeds the obligation to avoid the 
influences of the world which defile, and to refrain from eating and 
drinking articles which tend to prejudice that consecration. A sepa- 
ration from the world was also implied by the regulation which re- 
quired the individual to let his hair grow, since long and uncut hair 
was regarded by the world either as unseemly, or as a sign of mourn- 
ing and seclusion ; he resumed his place in the world when he cut 
off his hair, which was burnt in the fire with a peace-offering. — 
The "thing devoted" (anathema) was, in general, anything irre- 
deemably dedicated to the Lord ; when the anathema refers to 
human beings, it designates a compulsory dedication to God of those 
who do not willingly dedicate themselves to him, but, with impeni- 
tent hearts, despise his long-suffering, and, consequently, subject 
themselves to divine punishment, that is, to destruction. Nearly all 
the cases in which it might occur are specified in the law, and refer, 
particularly, to idolatry (Exodus, 23 : 20; Deut. 13 : 12-17). The 
most extensive of all others, in its effects, was the anathema which 
Jehovah himself pronounced in the case of the Canaanites, and the 
execution of which he assigned to the Israelites. (Deut. 7:2; 20 : 16 
-18.) See I 59. Obs. 1. 

§ 52. B. The Ethical and Philanthropical (Humane) Features 

of the Law. 

Israel was pre-eminently distinguished from all the nations of 
antiquity by being invested with the office of sustaining, pre- 
serving and imparting to others that pure and unclouded concep- 
tion of God (§ 9. Obs. 1) which the whole heathen world had 
lost. This conception of God was the basis and animating prin- 
ciple of the whole system of the Mosaic law. Hence the words 
occur : " Hear, Israel : The Lord our God is one Lord" 
(Deut. 6 : 4), and: " Ye shall he holy ; for 1, the Lord your 
God, am holy" (Lev. 11 : 45). The people to whom the Law 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 135 

was given on Sinai, and whose religious consciousness embraces 
these fundamental truths, are also the representatives, in contra- 
distinction from the whole heathen world, of the principles of true 
morality and genuine philanthropy. The acknowledgment of one 
living, personal, holy and just God, united with the consciousness 
that man was created in purity and holiness in His image, neces- 
sarily gave to Ethics a new principle, greater power, and a loftier 
ideal, than any moral system in the heathen world could possibly 
possess. For now moral worth or worthlessness is not traced to 
the equivocal act, or the outward appearance and result, as its 
seat, but to the heart and the sentiments. The key-note to which 
the whole Law is accommodated, is found in the words : u Man 
looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
heart." (1 Sam. 16 : 7.) The leading feature of the Law, which 
appears in its direct attention to man's inward frame, is already 
seen in the words of the fundamental law or decalogue : " Thou 
shalt not covet — " and continually recurs in the details of the 
Law. Love to God is established as the fundamental ethical 
principle ; it is already expressed in the decalogue, in the words : 
" them that love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus, 20 : 
6, compared with Deut. 6:5; 10 : 12 ; 11 : 13) ; and from this 
principle is deduced the love which is due to every neighbor, 
while love to the enemy and the stranger is expressly included. 
Selfish feelings are cut off at the roots by the command : "Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19 : 
18). The Pagan doctrine of autochthons (or aboriginal inhabi- 
tants of a country — risen or grown out of the soil) suppressed 
that genuine philanthropy which was commended to the Israelites 
by their knowledge of the descent of all men from the same hu- 
man pair, and an active demonstration of which, in all the rela- 
tions of life, was demanded by the Law. 

Obs. — Israel is commanded to reverence old age, in Lev. 19 : 32 ; 
kindness and justice to the poor, to widows, and to orphans, are most 
strictlj enjoined in Exod. 22 : 21-23 ; the law of the year of jubilee 
(§ 49) guarded against impoverishment. The Hebrew servant (Exod. 
21 : 2, &c. ; Lev. 25 : 39, &c.), was entitled to be treated as a member 
of the family, and recovered his freedom without a ransom, after a 
service of six years, in case he did not choose to remain. (Exod. 21 : 



136 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

6.) This privilege was not extended to the bond-man who belonged 
to another people ; he was, however, protected by the law, from all 
arbitrary and harsh treatment. The duty of loving enemies is de- 
scribed in animated and impressive terms, in Exod. 23 : 4, 5. The 
Israelites are commanded to cultivate feelings of humanity towards 
the stranger among them, and are reminded of their own condition, 
when they, too, were strangers in Egypt (Exod. 23 : 9) ; he obtained 
equal rights with themselves in a court of justice (Lev. 24 : 22), and, 
when he submitted to the rite of circumcision, enjoyed all the civil 
and religious privileges of a Hebrew. (Exod. 12 : 48.) The Law re- 
gards even animals with tender care ; domestic animals are not per- 
mitted to do work on the sabbath-day (Exod. 20 : 10) ; neither may 
the ox, that treadeth out the corn, be muzzled (Deut. 25 : 4) ; the 
bird in the nest is protected (Deut. 22 : 6, 7), and the beasts of the 
field obtain their share of the fruits spontaneously produced in the 
sabbatical year. (Exod. 23 : 11.) Other provisions of a similar 
character occur. 



§ 53. Departure from Sinai. — The Graves of Lust. — The Sin 

of Miriam. 

1. Num. ch. 1-10. — The people had now remained an entire 
year in their tents, the Law was given, the Tabernacle was 
erected, the priests were already occupied with their official duties, 
and the period of departure was at hand. After the number of 
men who were able to bear arms had again been taken, and the 
second passover had been celebrated, the Lord gave the appointed 
signal (Exod. 40 : 36 3 Num. 9 : 17-23); the cloud was taken 
up from the tabernacle, and guided the people in their journeying. 
Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses (Zipporah's brother), who is 
acquainted with the country, yields to the solicitations of Moses, 
accompanies the people, and renders important services, particu- 
larly in reference to the encamping of the several tribes. 

2. Num. ch. 11. — After the long repose which the people had 
enjoyed, they bore the difficulties of the journey with impatience. 
The Lord was displeased; his fire consumed the most distant 
parts of the camp; it was quenched when Moses prayed; there- 
fore, the place was called Taberah (that is, a burning). Notwith- 
standing the people had suffered this chastisement, they soon 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 137 

began to complain of the manna, of which they were weary, and 
lusted after the flesh-pots of Egypt. The complaints of the 
people originated with the mixed multitude, which had accompa- 
nied them from Egypt (probably a class of Egyptian fellahs, 
Exod. 12 : 38, and Deut. 29 : 10, 11), and communicated their 
feelings of discontent to Israel. When Moses himself complained 
of the burden of his office, the Lord gave him seventy of the 
elders as assistants, and put upon them also the spirit which was 
upon him. Quails are given in vast numbers, but while the 
people eat ravenously, they suffer the punishment of their lusting 
after flesh; the Lord smote the people with a very great plague ? 
and the place, in which large numbers had died, received a name 
signifying the graves of Lust. 

3. Num. ch. 12. — Moses endured many great afflictions ; even 
Aaron and Miriam now speak against him, and affirm that the 
Lord speaks by them also. But Miriam became leprous, white 
as snow, and was not healed till Moses had interceded for her. 
The Lord himself testifies that Moses is faithful in all His house, 
and is permitted to behold His similitude, and that while He spoke 
with Moses mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark 
speeches, he made himself known to other prophets only in visions 
and dreams. 

§ 54. The Twelve Spies. — The Rebellion of Korah. 

1. Num. ch. 13, 14. — At an early period in the second year, 
the people arrive at Kadesh-barnea (Deut. 1 : 19), on the southern 
border of Canaan, in the wilderness of Paran (situated in the 
angle formed by the mountains of Edom and the mountains of 
the Amorites). Yielding to the wishes of the people, by divine 
permission, Moses commissions twelve men, each one of whom is 
taken from a different tribe, to spy out and search the land of 
Canaan ; when they return, they bring with them, as a specimen 
of the fertility of the country, a branch, with one cluster of 
grapes, from the brook of Eshcol, in the plain of Sephela. But 
by their exaggerated accounts of the many powerful tribes which 
occupy the country, of their fortified cities, and of the gigantic 
children of Anak, compared with whom, they appeared them 

12* 



138 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

selves to be like grasshoppers, as well as by their own faint- 
heartedness, they completely discourage the unbelieving people. 
Two of the men alone, Joshua and Caleb, urge the people to in- 
vade the country boldly in faith, but the latter attempt to stone 
them, in place of obeying. Again does Jehovah propose to dis- 
inherit the people, and limit the promised blessing to Moses and 
his descendants, and again does Moses fulfil the peculiar duty of 
his office, and intercede for Israel. (§ 44. 1.) In the sentence 
which the Lord, nevertheless, pronounced, it was declared, that 
all who were twenty years old and upward at the time of the 
Departure, and who had seen the wonderful deeds of God them- 
selves, should die in the wilderness, and not behold the promised 
land ) Joshua and Caleb alone, are excepted. A period of forty 
years, corresponding to the number of the days in which the men 
had searched the land, was assigned to the journeyings in the 
wilderness. On hearing the sentence, the Israelites determine 
to attack the Canaanites; they persist, although they are now 
forbidden to proceed ; they are smitten and put to flight. 

2. Num. ch. 16, 17. — Another rebellion occurs, probably in 
consequence of the sentence which Moses communicated, namely, 
that the Lord had rejected that generation. The leaders are. the 
two Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, and the Kohathite (§ 37, 
Obs. 2) Korah; the former, the descendants of Jacob's first-born 
son, probably, claim the office of chief rulers, and the latter de- 
sires the office of high-priest. Moses submits the decision to the 
Lord ; when Korah burns incense, a fire from the Lord consumes 
him and his adherents ; the other rebels are swallowed up alive 
by the earth, which opened under them. On the next day the 
murmuring people say to Moses and Aaron : " Ye have killed the 
people of the Lord." Then the cloud covered the tabernacle 
where Moses and Aaron sought refuge, the glory of the Lord 
appeared, and he said to them : u Get you up from among this 
congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment." But 
Aaron took incense, as Moses commanded, and hastened into the 
midst of the congregation, in order to make an atonement for 
them. The plague had already begun ; but when Aaron stood 
between the dead and the living, offering incense, the plague was 
arrested, after 14,700 had already died. Aaron's rod that 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 139 

budded completes the chain of evidence respecting those whom 
the Lord had invested with the priesthood, and is deposited as a 
token in the holy of holies. 

Obs. — In this symbolical occurrence, an illustration is given of 
the election and grace of God, first, in the widest sense, when Israel 
is appointed to be the priestly nation, and, secondly, in a narrower 
sense, when Aaron's family is appointed. The rod, entirely sepa- 
rated from the tree, and deprived of the regular supply of vital 
strength flowing from the tree, could not bloom and yield fruit in a 
natural way ; nevertheless, it is qualified to perform those functions 
by a supply of nourishment and strength furnished supernaturally, 
in a mode deviating from the ordinary processes of nature. Thus, 
too, Israel, together with the whole human race, was separated, by 
the Fall, from the eternal source of life, and torn from the soil in 
which alone they could flourish : but new and supernatural supplies 
of life are infused, flowing from the divine counsel of salvation, from 
the revelations of God. Aaron's family, contradistinguished from 
the unpriestly character of the priestly nation, appears in the same 
light ; he and his sons are as incapable, by nature, of fulfilling the 
duties of the true priesthood, as the remainder of the people, but 
life and strength, which qualify him, flow abundantly from Jeho- 
vah's call and election. Even as Israel, in the full enjoyment of 
divine revelation, is a people flourishing alone among the withered 
nations of the earth, so, too, Aaron's family flourishes among the 
other families which are, relatively, withered — but, it blooms and 
yields fruit, not by its own virtue, but by the grace and calling of 
Jehovah. 

§ 55. The Journeyings of Thirty -eight Tears.— The Water of 
Strife. — Aaron's Death. — The Brazen Serpent. 

1. Israel, rejected by the Lord, wandered in the wilderness 
during a period of thirty-eight years. Concerning this whole 
period, the sacred records observe silence ; the theocratic cove- 
nant was suspended, and, hence, the theocratic history can speak 
of no occurrences. Circumcision, the sign of the covenant, was 
omitted; the people polluted the sabbaths of the Lord, despised 
his judgments, and did not walk in his statutes. (Ezek. ch. 20). 
They offered no slain beasts or sacrifices to the Lord, but they 
took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god, 
Reniphan (the worship of Saturn), figures which they made. 



140 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

(Acts 7 : 42, 43, and Amos 5 : 25, 26.) Nevertheless, the Lord 
had compassion even on those whom he had rejected; he turned 
his anger away, and did not destroy them. He fed them with 
manna, and gave them water out of the rock. 

2. Num. 20 : 1-13. — At length we discover the Israelites, in 
the first month of the fortieth year, encamped a second time in 
Kadesh, on the southern borders of Canaan. A new generation 
has succeeded the one which had been rejected, and which gra- 
dually disappeared; at this point, Sacred History resumes the 
recital which had been interrupted. The supply of water had 
failed, and the people murmur. The Lord commands Moses to 
take the rod, which had been deposited in the sanctuary, and to 
speak to the rock. But Moses was provoked by the perverseness 
of the people, and lost the calmness, ease and firm bearing which 
belong to the assurance of faith; in place of speaking to the 
rock, as he had been commanded, he addressed the people harshly 
(" he spake unadvisedly with his lips," Ps. 106 : 33), and smote 
the rock with the rod twice. The steadfastness of faith which 
he had hitherto shown, wavered, and as it is reasonable and just 
that judgment should begin at the house of God (1 Pet. 4 : 17), 
the Lord pronounces the sentence that he should not bring the 
congregation into the land, and extends it to Aaron, who had 
stood at his side on that occasion, and been equally weak in 
faith. The place was called the Water of Strife, because the 
people there strove with the Lord. 

3. Num. 20 : 14 — 21 : 9. — The design which had been formed 
of entering the promised land on the south, is abandoned, in 
consequence of the difficulties which the features of the country 
presented ; at the same time, the hostility of the Edomites pre- 
vent the people from entering on the eastern side. Not only do 
the Edomites refuse them an unmolested passage through their 
territory, but also enforce their refusal by appearing in arms. 
As the two races claim the same remote ancestors, Israel is 
not permitted to contend with Edom in battle, and is, conse- 
quently, compelled to turn again to the south, and march around 
the mountains of Edom. (§41. 3.) Aaron dies on mount Hor, 
not far from Kadesh, after Moses had, in obedience to the divine 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 141 

command, removed his priestly garments, and put theru upon his 
eldest son, Eleazar; the congregation mourned for him thirty 
days. In the mean time, the king of Arad (on the southern 
declivity of the mountains of the Amorites) fought against 
Israel, and took some of them prisoners ; the Lord delivers the 
enemies into the hand of Israel, and they and their cities are 
utterly destroyed. The people then abandon Hor, and proceed 
towards the Eed Sea (the iElanitic Gulf). Again do the people 
manifest discontent on the way, and speak against God and 
against Moses: " Our soul loatheth this light bread;" the Lord 
sends among them fiery serpents, whose bite occasions an inflam- 
mation which terminates in death. They acknowledge their sin, 
and beseech Moses to intercede for them ; the Lord directs him 
to make a serpent of brass, and declares that all who are bitten, 
and who look upon it, shall live. 

Obs. — According to the explanation of Christ, the lifting up of 
the serpent in the wilderness is a type of the lifting up of himself 
on the cross, the result of which is redemption from sin and death 
(the bite of the old serpent) : As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
ivildemess, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3 : 14, 
15.) This type is further explained by passages like the following: 
" God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for- 
sin, condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:3.) "Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," 
(Gal. 3 : 13.) " He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
sin." (2 Cor. 5 : 21.) "Who his own self bare our sins in his own 
body on the tree." (1 Pet. 2 : 24.) It is less easy to arrive at the in- 
terpretation of the serpent that was lifted up, in its purely symbolical 
character, that is, to ascertain the aspect which it presents, when re- 
garded from an Old Testament point of view. The Serpent appears 
to have been almost universally received by antiquity as a symbol of 
healing, or the healing art ; this symbolization probably originated 
when it was ascertained that some of the most efficacious remedies 
of nature are precisely the most dangerous poisons. When we, ac- 
cordingly, regard the serpent, in the present instance, as a symbol 
of healing, we obtain from such a view a bond of union between the 
symbol and the type ; we are, also, enabled by this view to explain 
the fact that idolatrous worship was rendered to the brazen serpent 
till the reign of Hezekiah, who destroyed it. (2 Kings, 18 : 4 ; \ 103. 



142 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

1.) — The apocryphal Book of the Wisdom of Solomon (16 : 6) calls 
it ovpfioXov tfwt^piaj, " a sign of salvation." 

§ 56. The Conquest of the east-Jbrdanic territory. Balaam. 

1. Numb. 21 : 10-35. — Israel had now compassed the moun- 
tains of Edom ; great fear fell upon the Edomites, whose eastern 
borders presented the weakest defences (§ 41. 3) ; they now offer 
no obstructions to the march of the Israelites. The latter reach 
the ridge of Abarim on the borders of the Moabites, whom, as in 
the case of the Edomites, they are not permitted to assail. They 
encamp on the brook Arnon, which was, at that time, the 
northern boundary of the Moabites, for, a short time previous to 
their arrival, the Amorites from the west had invaded the east- 
Jordanic territory, and taken the whole region lying between the 
Arnon and the Jabbok from the Moabites and Ammonites. As 
the Israelites are not yet aware that they are to possess this east- 
Jordanic territory also, they send messengers to Sihon, king of 
the Amorites, and ask for permission to pass peaceably through 
his country ; he meets them, however, in a hostile manner. As 
he is not entitled to the indulgence with which Edom and Moab 
were treated, he is smitten with the sword, the territory between 
Arnon and Jabbok is seized, the inhabitants are devoted to de- 
struction, and the spoils are divided. Thence Israel proceeded 
in a northerly direction. Og, the king of Bashan, a man of gi- 
gantic stature, meets them in battle, but is defeated at Edrei, and, 
with all his people, is destroyed. The spoils are divided, and the 
conquered land is occupied. 

2. Numb. ch. 22. — The people encamp in the plains of Moab, 
opposite to Jericho ; at this point they propose to cross the Jor- 
dan. Balak, a Moabite king, enters into an alliance with the 
neighboring Midianites against Israel; he despairs of obtaining 
aid from his own gods, and applies to the celebrated magian 
Balaam in Mesopotamia, who is considered to be a prophet of 
Jehovah. He hopes, through the instrumentality of this man, to 
withdraw from the Israelites the help of that God who had 
hitherto strengthened them, and secure it for himself. The mes- 
sengers who are sent to him with rich rewards, return without 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 143 

having succeeded, for Jehovah had said to Balaam : " Thou shalt 
not go with them ; thou shalt not curse the people : for they are 
blessed." A second message, brought by more honorable princes, 
and accompanied with richer gifts, awakens in the unstable ma- 
gian a wish to comply with the royal request. And God per- 
mits him to go with the men, but says : " Yet the word which I 
shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do." An irresistible desire 
is gradually unfolded in Balaam's impure soul to obtain the 
• offered gifts and honors, and, therefore, God's anger was kindled, 
because he went. The angel of the Lord stood in the way, with 
his sword drawn in his hand, as an adversary. The seer himself 
sees nothing, but his ass sees the angel, and turns aside in fear. 
Balaam smites the ass in vain ; it can proceed no further, and 
falls down under him. When his anger grows fierce, the Lord 
opens the mouth of the ass. The prophet who would not receive 
the instructions of God's voice, is now taught by the voice of a 
beast — the irrational beast of burden sees that which the deluded 
prophet does not see. Balaam hears the dumb ass, speaking with 
man's voice (2 Pet. 2 : 15, 16), and complaining ; then the Lord 
opens his eyes, and he both sees the angel of the Lord, and hears 
his words of rebuke. He confesses, indeed, that he has sinned, 
but with a divided heart, not promptly yielding to the divine 
will, he adds: u If it displease thee, I will get me back again." 
But now the Lord commands him to go with the men. 

Obs. 1. — Balaam, originally a heathen magian of an ordinary 
class, was, very probably (like Jethro, Exodus, cb. 18, and Rahab, 
Joshua, ch. 2), conducted to the acknowledgment of Jehovah, by the 
overpowering influence of the wonderful deeds of God in Egypt and 
in the wilderness, which made a deep impression on all the surround- 
ing nations. (Exodus, 15 : 14; Joshua, 5 : 1.) He resolved to serve 
Jehovah, and to perform his enchantments henceforth in the name 
of Jehovah. (Analogous instances in the New Testament occur in 
Matt, 12 : 27 ; Acts, 19 : 13 ; and, particularly, in Acts, ch. 8, which 
relates the case of Simon the sorcerer, the Balaam of the New Testa- 
ment.) Such a combination of heathenish magic with the service of 
Jehovah, could not be permanent, and the experience of Balaam 
would necessarily soon compel him to abandon the one or the other. 
When the message of Balak reached him, the period of decision 
arrived — the test was applied, and Balaam was found wanting. 



144 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. 2. — In reference to the event with which the ass is connected, 
we are obliged, by Num. 22 : 28, and 2 Pet. 2 : 15, 16, to acknowledge 
a miraculous operation of God, of which the animal is the subject, 
and by which it was made the means of witnessing, rebukingly, 
against Balaam's self-delusion, in a manner that was humiliating to 
himself. It is, however, worthy of observation, that the words of 
the ass do not rise above the animal sphere ; they are strictly con 
fined to the region of animal perception or sensation. The miracle 
consists merely in the fact that, by a divine influence or operation, 
the natural expression of animal sensation is made to acquire a mo- 
dulation which gives it the character of the articulate sounds of 
human language. It is difficult to decide whether this modulation 
occurred already in the mouth of the ass, or in the ear of Balaam 
only; the decision, perhaps, depends on the answer to the question, 
whether Balak's messengers were present or absent. If they were 
present, the modulation of the voice occurred in- the ear of Balaam, 
and the miracle resembles, in some of its features, the occurrences 
described in John 12 : 28 ; Acts 9 : 7, compared with Acts 22 : 9, 
and Acts 2 : 12, 13 ; if they were absent, that interpretation claims 
the preference, according to which the modulated words proceeded 
from the mouth of the animal. 

3. Num. ch. 23-25. — Balak conducts the ruagian to the high 
places of Baal, that he might thence see the whole camp of Is- 
rael. But Balaam pronounces blessings in place of the curses 
which are expected. Balak, astonished and displeased, leads him 
to the top of Pisgah, and, when the words of blessing are re- 
peated, brings hiin, at last, to the top of Peor. All his efforts 
are fruitless; the spirit of prophecy pronounces only clearer and 
mightier words of blessing; the seer's glance at length extends 
so far, that he sees the "Star come out of Jacob, and the Sceptre 
rise out of Israel, which shall smite and destroy" the hostile 
heathen (that is, David, and his archetype, Christ). Notwith- 
standing, Balaam craftily advised the Moabites and Midianites to 
entice Israel to practise idolatrous rites; this plan was so suc- 
cessful, that a plague which the Lord sent destroyed 24,000 of 
the people. When the Israelites afterwards avenged themselves 
on the Midianites, they slew Balaam also (ch. 31 : 8). 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 145 

§ 57. The Last Days of Moses. 

Deut. ch. 1, &c. — After Moses had repeated the Law in the 
hearing of the people, and impressed it upon their minds, he 
added a statement of the divine blessings and curses ; he conse- 
crated Joshua as his successor, and assigned the east-Jordanic 
territory to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of 
Manasseh, whose numerous flocks gave them special claims to 
this fertile pasture-land. He spake the words of his last song 
(ch. 82), and gave his parting blessing to the twelve tribes, (ch. 
33.) After these things, he ascended the mountain of Nebo, 
whence the Lord showed him the promised land, which he was 
permitted to see, but not to enter. There Moses died, when he 
was a hundred and twenty years old, and the Lord buried him, 
but no man ever saw his grave. 

Obs. — The promise in Deut. 18 : 18, 19, is peculiarly important: 
'' I will raise tliem up a Prophet from among their brethren" said the 
Lord to Moses, " like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; 
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it 
shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, 
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Now, 
a prophet like unto Moses, must necessarily, like him, be a redeemer 
of the people, a founder and an executor of a new covenant with 
God: and, since a new covenant is, by implication, better than the 
one which preceded it, it follows that the prophet, who is like unto 
Moses, is thus really a greater than he is. Hence, this prophecy ap- 
plied, in its fulness, to no prophet of the old covenant, as the Scrip- 
tures also expressly testify : "There arose not a prophet since, in 
Israel, like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." (Deut. 
34 : 10.) It is in Christ alone, the executor of the new covenant, 
the Kedeemer of all men, that this promise is perfectly and finally 
fulfilled. Here, then, we perceive that, after a typical redeemer and 
saviour of his people had appeared in Moses (see \ 35. Obs. 2), the 
first conception of a personal Messiah was formed, which afterwards 
attained entire clearness and certainty in the age of king David. 
3 76. 1.) 

13 



146 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 58. The Pentateuch. 

1. The only source whence historical materials have so far been 
derived, is the Pentateuch, that is, the five books of Moses, 
called in Hebrew torah, or, the Law. The second, third and 
fourth books form the principal part, for it is the main object of 
the Pentateuch to describe those wonderful deeds and revelations 
of God, by which Israel was prepared and consecrated as the 
chosen people, the first-born of Jehovah ; it consequently relates 
the history of the establishment and sealing of the Old Covenant, 
or the history of the age of Moses. In an Israelitic point of 
view, the first book was important chiefly as an historical intro- 
duction, intended to set forth the connection and successive steps 
apparent in the divine mode of educating man and imparting a 
revelation to him, beginning with the creation of man, and con- 
tinued till the eventful period of the giving of the Law had been 
reached. And as the first book forms an historical connection 
with the antecedent period, so the fifth book forms, prophetically, 
a bond of union with the whole period that follows. 

Obs. — The first book is called Genesis (that is, generation, origin, 
or production). It not only describes the origin of the people of 
Israel, but also relates the history of the creation of the world and 
of man. It assumes, at the beginning, already, a position that is 
opposed to heathenism, by teaching that a personal and almighty 
God, who is also the only God, created all from nothing ($ 9. Obs. 1), 
and, in describing the progress of the work of creation, it assigns to 
man his appropriate place in the scale of creation, and exhibits his 
true destination. ($ 10.) The history of the Fall lies at the founda- 
tion of the whole history of redemption, explains the calling of 
Abraham, and the establishment of the covenant on Sinai, and also 
furnishes a key to the whole sacrificial worship of the Law. (g 48.) 
It then proceeds to describe the manner in which the chosen people 
was separated, in the beginning, from others, established and con- 
tinually sustained. (g 23.) — The second book, Exodus (that is, depar- 
ture), describes the Departure from Egypt, the establishment of the 
covenant on Sinai, and the completion of the sanctuary ; it also 
relates the history of the people during their abode in Sinai. — The 
third book, Leviticus (the book of the priests), receives that name 
from the nature of its contents, which explain the position, privi- 
leges, duties and offices of the priests and Levites The book of 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 147 

Numbers begins with an account of the numbering of the people, and, 
besides the description of various occasional laws, relates the history 
of their journeyings in the wilderness. — The fifth book, Deuteronomy 
(that is, the second law, or the repetition of the laio), contains the last 
addresses of Moses to the people ; he repeats the law, impresses it 
upon their minds, and introduces certain modifications of it required 
by their entrance into the holy land, which was soon to take place, 
and which would occasion changes in their circumstances. He con- 
cludes with a statement of divine blessings and threatenings, which 
were designed for future generations; this book is, consequently, 
prophetic in its nature. The history of the last days of Moses closes 
the whole collection. 

2. But the Pentateuch is not simply the source of history for 
that period of time only, at the expiration of which (the death 
of Moses) it terminates ) on the contrary, the narratives, revela- 
tions, promises and laws which it contains, are also the true basis, 
or constitute the living, teeming germ and beginning of the his- 
tory of the future. It is the original source of religious life and 
faith in the old covenant. Its historical portions furnish evi- 
dence to future generations of the power and grace of their God, 
and are a pledge that these will continue to be manifested, and 
will, hereafter, appear in their highest perfection and glory ; the 
lives of their ancestors, whose faith, whose hopes, and whose 
patient expectation, together with their virtues and errors, are 
portrayed, furnish them with animated images and warnings 
suited to their own condition. The laws of the Pentateuch con- 
stitute a permanent and divinely-appointed rule for their worship, 
and their public and private life, while its promises are the living 
germ which is unfolded during the labors of the later prophets, 
and ultimately becomes a vigorous tree, with widely-spreading 
branches. 

Obs. 1. — It might be reasonably expected (for the omission would 
be unaccountable) that Moses himself would record, for the benefit 
of future generations, the glorious deeds and revelations of God, by 
which Israel was appointed and qualified to be the chosen people, 
and the bearer or vehicle sustaining the divine development of sal- 
vation. His education, which gave him access to all the wisdom of 
the Egyptians, was an external qualification for this work, which 
none of his Hebrew cotemporaries possessed. It was his hand which 



148 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

God had employed in performing those wonders, and Ms mouth by 
which God had pronounced those revelations. On whom, then, did 
the duty more appropriately devolve than on himself, to preserve for 
posterity the memory of these events? It was, evidently, a subject 
of vital consequence in his eyes, that succeeding generations should 
possess a faithful, complete and authentic account of all those divine 
facts and revelations, laws and promises, by which Israel acquired 
the position which it occupied, and by the faithful preservation and 
observance of which alone, Israel could see its glorious prospects 
realized ; it was obvious to Moses that these advantages could not be 
secured, unless the whole account were committed to writing. Now, 
that those books of the Scriptures which contain this account, and 
bear the name of Moses, were, as a whole, really composed by him, 
they declare themselves by their general contents, which continually 
indicate that the author was cotemporaneous with the events 
recorded ; moreover, these books contain numerous express declara- 
tions that Moses, usually by special divine commands, had written 
the several parts and the whole. (Exod. 17 : 14 ; 24 : 4, 7 ; 34 : 27, 28 ; 
Num. 33 : 2 ; Deut. 1:5; 4:8; 17 : 18 ; 27 : 26; 28 : 58 ; 29 : 19, 
20 ; 30 : 10 ; 31 : 9-12.) The existence of these books after the age 
of Moses, is proved by numerous references to them in the historical 
statements and the declarations of the other older books of the sacred 
volume, and when they are mentioned, Moses is named as the 
author, (e. g. Josh. 1 : 7, 8 ; 23 : 6 ; 1 Kings 2 : 3 ; 2 Kings 14 : 6 ; 
Ezra 7:6; Dan. 9 : 11.) This is the declaration of the oldest tra- 
dition from Joshua to Ezra, and, in a similar manner, from Ezra to 
Christ, without any exception disturbing the unanimity of its refer- 
ence of the Pentateuch to Moses as the author. — It is only in com- 
paratively recent times that the genuineness of the Pentateuch has 
been questioned ; but the objections, which have been collected with 
great labor, betray the doctrinal character of the source in which 
they originate ; for if Moses is really the author of the Pentateuch, 
no alternative remains, except either to accuse him of falsehood and 
fraud, or to acknowledge the literal truth of the miracles and pro- 
phecies which are prejudged to be impossible. The opponents of the 
Pentateuch were not prepared to adopt either course, and, conse- 
quently resorted to criticism, for the purpose of relieving themselves 
from embarrassment. When a doctrinal antipathy of this nature 
disappears, it carries with it nearly all the doubts which were enter- 
tained respecting the genuineness of these books ; and, on the other 
hand, the acknowledgment of the history in the Old Testament as 
embodying a direct and divine mode of educating and training men 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 149 

for salvation in Christ, which is supported by miracles and prophecy, 
necessarily leads to the acknowledgment of the genuineness of its 
most essential portions, for if the Pentateuch is removed, the whole of 
the subsequent history loses its foundation, and becomes uncertain and 
inexplicable. — That the last chapter of Deuteronomy was not written 
by Moses, but was furnished by another writer, perhaps by Joshua, 
for the purpose of completing the whole work, is an obvious fact. 

Obs. 2. — The inscription of the ninetieth Psalm represents it as 
a Prayer of Moses. Even if this inscription proceeds from a later 
collector of the Psalms, the tradition which it embodies is the less 
liable to be rejected, as the whole character of the Psalm, and the 
sentiments and feelings which it expresses, suit none more perfectly 
than Moses, and correspond to no period more happily than to the 
one in which the people, rejected by the Lord, died in the wilderness 
in numbers, falling like the leaves which the autumnal winds pluck 
from the trees. 



THIRD PERIOD. 

JOSHUA ; AND THE CONQUEST OF THE PROMISED LAND. 

(A period of 40 — 50 years.) 

§ 59. Significance of this Period — Israel's Claims to the Land 

of Canaan. 

A rejected, unbelieving and ungrateful generation had died 
in the wilderness ) a new generation appeared in their children, 
who believed and trusted in the Lord. It is no longer Moses 
who leads the chosen people ; he is the representative of the Law, 
which contains a curse for sinful man (Gal. 3 : 10), but does not 
lead him to his rest. The present successful leader is Joshua 
(whose name is Jesus, according to the Greek pronunciation) \ he 
is a mild and gentle man, and, nevertheless, a hero in faith, bold 
and victorious in the wars of the Lord, filled with the spirit which 
rested on Moses (Numb. 27 : 18-20), and a type of Him who 
afterwards bore the same name^ — he conducts the people into the 
land of promise and of rest. Israel had become a nation in Egypt ; 
in Sinai they received their Law, their public and domestic insti- 
tutions, their worship and their sanctuary; one pressing want re- 
mained, which, if unsupplied, would render an independent na- 
13* 



150 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

tional existence impossible — they needed a country suited to 
their character, position and destination. That country is now 
given to them; it is the land of their fathers, abounding in 
sacred associations, admonitions and warnings. 

Obs. 1. — In the age of Abraham, the Lord said: " The iniquity 
of the Amorites (Canaanites) is not yet full" (Gen. 15 : 16). To 
them the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a solemn warn- 
ing: the Dead Sea daily proclaimed to them the duty of repentance ; 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had called upon the name of the Lord in 
their midst, in word and in deed. But they were immersed more 
and more deeply in their corrupt and idolatrous worship of nature. 
The measure of their iniquity was now full, and — " wheresoever the 
carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Matt. 24 : 
28.) The Lord had previously punished by brimstone and fire from 
heaven ; he is now pleased to employ Israel's sword as the executor 
of his punitive justice. God has employed other nations for similar 
purposes, without their own knowledge, but in this case he desired 
the Israelites to understand the nature of their task, and learn from 
it how greatly Jehovah hates, and how sternly he punishes the sin 
of idolatry. Moses testified: "If thou do at all forget the Lord thy 
God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, 
I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the 
nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye 
perish" (Deut. 8 : 19, 20). — The Israelites possessed no human right 
to Canaan; their right of possession depended on the divine donation 
alone, and their authority to destroy the inhabitants was derived 
from the divine command, and the duty of obedience. The same di- 
vine act dispensed grace to them, and justice to the Amorites. To 
the latter, God had granted the country at a former period, not un- 
conditionally, but, as he distributes all temporal gifts, conditionally, 
namely, as to stewards. They were found to be unworthy ; he de- 
stroys them, and appoints other stewards. 

Obs. 2. — The source of the history of this period is the booh of 
Joshua, which derives its name from its contents. It was not written 
by Joshua, for even if the account of his death in ch. 24 was sup- 
plied by a later writer, there are events recorded in ch. 19 : 40-47, 
which occurred after his death (see Judges 18 : 1, 2, 27-29). But 
that the author did not live long after the death of Joshua, and com- 
posed the book previous to the age of David, is clearly proved by 
passages like the following: Joshua 9 : 27 ; 13:6; 15 : 63 ; 16 : 10, 
19:29. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 151 

§ 60. Joshua. — The Passage over the Jordan. 

1. Josh. 1 : 1-9. — Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of 
Ephraiin, was the successor of Moses. He had already attracted 
attention when he commanded the army of Israel in the contest 
with the Amalekites (§42. 2) ; on the occasion when he searched 
the land in company with others (§ 54. 1), he had exhibited 
courage, intelligence and faith. He had hitherto, even when ho 
led the army, been sustained by the powerful aid of Moses ; at 
present, when he is more than eighty years old, he is called to 
bear that burden alone, which had sometimes threatened to crush 
even the mighty Moses. He is aware of the weight of the bur- 
den, for he had been the associate of Moses during forty years ; 
and he is conscious of his own want of strength. But the Lord 
speaks words of comfort and encouragement : ei — There shall not 
any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life : as 
I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. ... Be strong, 
and of a good courage. . . . This book of the law shall not 
depart out of thy mouth. . . . The Lord thy God is with 
thee whithersoever thou goest." And even the people said : 
" According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we 
hearken unto thee. . . . Only be strong, and of a good 
courage ;" the issue proved that at least, on this occasion, such 
words did not contain an empty promise. 

2. Josh. 1 : 10 — 5 : 12. — Joshua commences by sending 
spies to Jericho, the key of the country. They enter the house 
of Kahab, who (in faith, Heb. 11 : 31), acknowledges the hand 
of the Lord. She conceals the spies for whom the king of 
Jericho institutes a search, and saves herself and her house. At 
a later period she even marries Salmon, of the tribe of Judah, 
and thus becomes an ancestress of David and Christ. (Matt. 1 : 
5.) The spies return with the tidings that all the inhabitants are 
overcome by fear. The ark of the covenant opens an easy and 
dry path across the bed of the Jordan, precisely at the time when 
the melting of the snow in Lebanon had caused it to overflow all 
its banks. Joshua set up twelve memorial-stones in the midst 
of Jordan, where the priests who carried the ark had stood, and 
as many others on the right bank ; taken from the midst of 



152 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Jordan. The people encamp in Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho, 
eat of the corn of the land, and the manna ceases. All the 
people are now circumcised, as the rite had been omitted during 
their wanderings in the wilderness (for the covenant, of which it 
was the sign, had been suspended), and, afterwards, the festival 
of the passover is kept the third time. 



§ 61. The Conquest of the west-Jbrdanic territory, — (Jericho 

and Ai.') 

1. Josh. ch. 6. — Not far from Jericho, the Captain of the 
host of the Lord appears to Joshua. It is Jehovah, who com- 
mands him to pass around the walls of the city once on each of 
six successive days, and seven times on the seventh day, with all 
the men of war and the priests, the latter bearing the trumpets 
of the jubilee ; the promise is given that at the last blast of the 
trumpet, when the people shout, the walls shall fall down. The 
promise was fulfilled; "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down." 
(Heb. 11 : 30.) The city and all that it contains, is devoted to 
destruction, and Joshua pronounces a curse on him who shall at 
any future time rebuild it (which afterwards takes effect, 1 Kings 
16 : 34). 

Obs. 1. — The Captain of the host of the Lord is the same who 
appeared to the patriarchs as the Angel of the Lord. (§ 26. 2, Obs.) 
He presents here a martial appearance, and bears a martial name, as 
the conqueror of all the enemies of God, and the executor of the 
divine judgments. As Jehovah is himself the invisible King of Is- 
rael, so too, he is the invisible chief Commander and Leader of Israel 
in every theocratical war. 

Obs. 2. — It is a remarkable circumstance, in various aspects, that 
Jericho, the first and the strongest city of the land, is taken in this 
peculiar manner, without a single stroke of the sword. This result 
was intended, on the one hand, to furnish the faith of the Israelites 
with unquestionable evidence of the success of their future warlike 
movements, which now commenced, and, on the other hand, to secure 
them in advance, from a carnal reliance on their own strength, and 
from all vainglorious tendencies to ascribe their success to their own 
courage, their own intelligence, and their own power. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 153 

2. Josh. cli. 7, 8. — The inhabitants of the apparently incon- 
siderable city of Ai defeat three thousand of the children of 
Israel, because " an accursed thing" was in the midst of the con- 
gregation, stolen and concealed by one of their number. It is 
made known by the lot that Achan is the guilty man ; he and his 
whole family, who were doubtless privy to the transaction, are 
stoned with stones by all Israel. The city may now be taken ; 
but, for the purpose of rebuking the carnal contempt with which 
Israel had previously regarded Ai, all the people of war are now 
commanded to go up against it. The simulated flight of Joshua 
induces the inhabitants to pursue him; in the mean time, others, 
who were lying in wait behind the city, rise up, seize, and 
burn it. 

Obs. — The circumstance that Achan's sin was visited upon the 
whole congregation of Israel (ch. 8 : 35), "is explained, partly by the 
fact that the people were a strictly organized and corporate society, 
the members of which, in their combination, were regarded as a 
complete whole — and partly, by the nature of this particular sin. 
The command which had been transgressed, referred to the congre- 
gation as one congregation or body, and the whole body was ac- 
countable for the manner in which it was obeyed. The sin of the 
individual was evidence of the temporary feebleness of the moral 
spirit of the whole body, and, in so far, the guilt of the individual 
was the guilt of all, and produced a pressure on the whole body, 
which could not be removed until the moral vital power of the latter 
had extirpated the degenerate member. 

3. Joshua, 8 : 30-35. — Joshua then builds an altar in mount 
Ebal, offers sacrifices, and causes a copy of the Law to be written 
on large stones ; he stations half of the people on mount Ebal, 
and the other half on Gerizim, the opposite mount, and reads 
aloud the blessings and curses of the Law, as Moses had pre- 
viously commanded (Deut. ch. 27). 

Obs. — Both mounts belong to the range of Mount Ephraim ; the 
elevated valley of Shechem lies between them. The transaction pro- 
bably took place in the following manner. Six tribes occupied each 
mount; the priests, standing below in the valley with the ark of the 
covenant in their midst, turned towards mount Gerizim as they 
solemnly pronounced the words of blessing, and then, looking towards 
mount Ebal, repeated the words of cursing; all the people responded 



154 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to each of the words, and said: "Amen!" — Ebal, the mount of 
cursing, is naked and bald; Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is green 
and fertile. The circumstance that the mount of cursing was as- 
signed for the writing of the law, the erection of the altar, and the 
offering of sacrifice, is highly significant ; the cause lies in the inti- 
mate relations existing between the curse, on the one hand, and the 
Law and Sacrifice, on the other — the former brings a curse, or gives 
a sharp point to it, the latter abolishes it. 

§ 62. Continuation. — {The Gibeonites — Adoni-zedek — Jabin.) 

1. Joshua, ch. 9. — The inhabitants of the powerful city of 
Gibeon, intimidated by the rapid and wonderful victories of 
Joshua, induce him and the elders by guile to make a league with 
them. Their ambassadors appear with worn-out garments, old 
and rent shoes and wine-skins, and mouldy bread, alleging that 
all had been new when they commenced their long journey. By 
their craft they escape the judgment which should have fallen on 
them also : for when the stratagem is exposed, the elders of Israel 
are already bound by their oath. The people murmur against 
Joshua, because he had omitted to ask counsel at the mouth of 
the Lord. The Gibeonites are condemned to be hewers of wood 
and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the 
Lord, as the punishment of the deceit which they had practised. 

2. Five kings of the south, at the head of whom appears 
Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, unite their forces for the pur- 
pose of punishing Gibeon. Joshua delivers the city; the kings 
and their people flee, and hailstones which the Lord casts down, 
slay greater numbers than the sword of Israel destroys. In the 
heat of battle, the victorious Joshua exclaims in the presence of 
Israel : " Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou Moon, in 
the valley of Ajalon !" And the sun stood still, and the moon 
stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their 
enemies, as it is written in the book of Jasher. The sun stood 
still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a 
whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, 
that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man : for the Lord 
fought for Israel. — The five kings are brought out of the cave 
in which they had sought refuge, and the entrance of which 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 155 

Joshua had temporarily closed with heavy stones, in order that 
the pursuit might not be delayed. The captains of Joshua are 
directed to put their feet upon the neck (nape) of each of the 
kings (which transaction may have been symbolical), and they 
are afterwards put to death. Nearly all the cities of the south 
are successively taken. — Another union, of a similar nature, is 
formed by the kings of the north, at the head of which appears 
Jabin king of Hazor. Their vast army acquired an additional 
feature, which rendered it formidable, from a large number of 
chariots of iron (ch. 17 : 16, currus falcati, scythe-chariots) which 
they brought with them. While they are encamped at the lake 
or sea of Merom, Joshua attacks and defeats them. The city of 
Hazor alone is devoted and burnt; the other cities are seized and 
occupied. 

Obs. 1. — A voucher from the Old Testament for the promise in 
Mark 11 : 23, 24, " Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou 
removed, &c," is furnished by Joshua's bold word of faith with its 
fulfilment. It was his prayer that the light of day might be pro- 
longed, and the darkness of night be retarded, until he had secured 
the object for which he pursued the enemy : he obtained the answer 
which he sought, by the miraculous power of his faith. No investi- 
gation respecting the natural means which produced this super- 
natural effect, can furnish valuable results. The command of faith 
is pronounced in the sense which Joshua assigns to the words ; the 
divine answer is given in the sense in which God understands them. 
No arguments that are either favorable or unfavorable to any par- 
ticular system of astronomy are furnished by the occurrence. 

Obs. 2. — The Book of Jasher (or, of the Upright, that is, Israel) 
was a collection of sacred war-songs, and may have, possibly, formed 
a continuation, in a certain sense, of the " Book of the Wars of the 
Lord" (Numb. 21 : 14 ; 2 Sam. 1 : 18). The collection was probably 
commenced in the wilderness, and, at different periods, received 
additions. 

§ 63. The Division of the Land. — The Death of Joshua. 

1. Joshua, ch. 13-22. — The whole land was conquered, after 
the war had continued seven years ; nevertheless, various strong 
places still remained in the hands of the Canaanites, and, more- 
over, the power of the Philistines, towards the south on the coast 



156 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

of the Mediterranean Sea, was not yet broken. But the task in 
general had been accomplished, and the work which still re- 
mained could be performed by the individual tribes. Joshua is 
accordingly commissioned to divide the several portions of the 
country among the tribes by lot. The camp is removed from 
Gilgal to Shiloh, between Bethel and Shechem, and there the 
tabernacle was also set up. Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of 
Manasseh return to the region which Moses had already assigned 
to them beyond Jordan on the east ; they erect an altar on the 
borders of the river, not for sacrifices and a worship at variance 
with the theocracy, as the offended tribes, who charged them with 
rebellion against the Lord, had supposed; but for the purpose of 
serving as a sign and witness that the Jordan did not divide them 
from their brethren either in their civil or their religious relation. 
2. Joshua, ch. 23, 24. — Joshua, who is wearied with the 
labors which- he has performed, retires from public life, and 
establishes himself in his own inheritance. After a long period 
of peace and rest, when he is old and stricken in years, he calls 
for the elders of Israel, and assembles all the tribes at Shechem. 
He once more reviews the wonderful dealings of God, and exhorts 
the people to serve Jehovah faithfully. He concludes by saying : 
" If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, choose you this day 
whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we 
will serve the Lord." And the people answered : " God forbid 
that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods . . . 
we also will serve the Lord ; for he is our God." Then Joshua 
made a covenant with the people that day, and erected a stone as 
a witness of the covenant. He dismissed the people, and soon 
afterwards died, when he was a hundred and ten years old. 

Obs. 1. — That man is great in the kingdom of God who is con- 
scious that he himself is as nothing ; this greatness is seen in Joshua. 
Among the heroes of Sacred History, his uncommon freedom from 
self-will assigns the pre-eminence to him. He is characterized by 
conscientious fidelity to the Law, and unclouded theocratical senti- 
ments. He is deliberate and prudent when he acts himself, for ho 
conducts the wars of the Lord ; but he becomes prompt, bold and 
decided, when the Lord sends him. His courage is humility, his 
strength is faith, his wisdom is obedience and the fear of the Lord 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 157 

He has a gentle spirit, but does not betray weakness ; the evidence 
of the latter is furnished by his strict judgment in the case of Achan, 
and the scrupulous exactness with which he executes the Lord's sen- 
tence respecting the Canaanites. Such a union of gentleness and 
rigor, of simplicity and prudence, of humility and grandeur of senti- 
ment, &c, presents evangelical features. — This peculiarity of his 
character, combined with the peculiarity of that age of the kingdom 
of God in which he lived, and also of the position which he occupied, I 
adapts both himself and the work which he performed to be highly 
significant types of the future. He conducts the people into the land 
of promise and of rest : but there remains a better rest into which 
his archetype, who bears the same name, conducts the people of God 
(Heb. 4: 8, 9) ; he carries on the wars, and executes the judgments 
of the Lord, in which are shadowed the victories and judgments of 
Christ, &c. 

Obs. 2. — The sentiments which govern Joshua, pervade the people 
in general in his day. The whole history of the chosen people pre- 
sents no other period in which they were generally animated by such 
zeal in the cause of the theocracy, by such conscientious fidelity to 
the Law, by such vigorous faith and sincere fear of God as that 
generation manifested. It was the period of first love, and, in this 
aspect, may be compared with the first centuries of the Christian 
Church. 

FOURTH PERIOD. 

THE AGE OF THE JUDGES. 

§ 64. Characteristic Features of this Period. 

1. All the circumstances in which the Israelites were now placed, 
were adapted to promote their welfare and happiness, in public 
and in private life. They possessed a country flowing with milk 
and honey, a religion which enclosed the living germ of the sal- 
vation of the whole world, and a form of government of which 
Jehovah himself was the immediate head, and of which the faith 
of the people was the soul. The sanctuary in Shiloh was the cen- 
tral point of the whole, and the high-priest was the mediator be- 
tween the people and their invisible king. The festivals, which 
required the presence of the people before the sanctuary, were 
intended to maintain in them a due sense of their religious union, 
and every convocation gave new vigor to their sense of the civil 

14 



158 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ties which bound them together. The administration of justice 
was assigned to the elders. In all important cases, Jehovah him- 
self decided through the Urim and Thummim (§ 46. 3) ; in sea- 
sons of affliction, he called or admonished, and aided or chastised 
by signs and wonders. All the bright prospects and the bless- 
ings of the patriarchs admitted, in these circumstances, of a noble 
development, and might have been unfolded in power and splen- 
dor; and the germ of salvation, in undisturbed repose, might 
have, as it was designed, expanded with freedom, and have indi- 
cated a vigorous growth. 

2. But these prospects were not fully realized — the great de- 
sign was imperfectly executed. The Lord had permitted certain 
Canaanite tribes to remain, for the purpose of teaching the Israel- 
ites, amid their struggles, to obey him, and of chastising them 
when they disobeyed (Judges, 2 : 22 ; 3:1, 4). Another gene- 
ration arose, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which 
he had done for Israel (Judges, 2 : 10). In place of executing 
the divine judgment of destruction, and utterly expelling the re- 
maining Canaanites, the people merely put them to tribute (ch. 
1 : 28) ; thus they were as thorns in the sides of the Israelites, 
and their gods were a snare unto them (2 : 3). In place of 
shunning the degenerate and accursed Canaanites, the people 
took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters 
to their sons, and served their gods (3 : 6). They exposed them- 
selves to all the allurements of the Canaanite religion of nature, 
and after they had once departed from the simplicity of faith 
and of unquestioning obedience, they were no longer able to 
resist its snares. But God did not abandon his people. The 
Angel of the Lord immediately appears in Bochim (the weepers), 
and admonishes and rebukes the people (2 : 1-5). All the people 
weep, it is true ; but they did not reform. A period of more than 
three hundred years now commences, in which alternations con- 
tinually occur, after longer or shorter intervals, of apostasy and 
the adoption of the Canaanite worship of nature, of chastisement 
immediately inflicted in the form of Canaanite oppression, of re- 
pentance and prayer to Jehovah, and of deliverance through 
judges whom the Lord raised up to be the saviours of the people 
(2 : 11-19). 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 159 

Obs. 1. — The religion of nature is, essentially, the deification of 
nature. It did not, like the Mosaical religion, regard the Deity as 
entirely distinct from nature, infinitely exalted above it, almighty, 
and omnipresent in it, and employing it as an instrument, but as 
identically the same as the hidden (generating or creating, preserving 
and destroying) power of nature. In the Canaanite worship of na- 
ture, Baal (the sun) represented the male, and Ashtaroth (Astarte) 
or Baaltis (the moon) the female principle of the Deity ; both were 
worshipped with many abominable and impure rites. The Philis- 
tines worshipped Dagon ; the Moabites, who worshipped Moloch, 
specially offered human sacrifices to their idol ; Baal-Peor was the 
god of the Midianites, whose worship consisted in lewd orgies, &c. 

Obs. 2. — The office of the Judges (shoplietim) was not of a perma- 
nent character. They were raised up by the Lord in cases of extra- 
ordinary affliction, for the purpose of delivering the people, and 
usually retained, even after their task had been performed, a judicial 
and magistratic power, as long as they lived. Their position and 
duties were allied to those of the prophets — they were prophets in 
action; they, consequently, merely resemble in name, but not in 
other respects, the Suffetes of the Carthaginians, and the Dikastai of 
the Tyrians. 

3. The Book of Judges, which is the source of the history of 
this period, presents an uninterrupted succession of narratives of 
Israel's apostasy, chastisement and deliverance, in order that the 
grace and faithfulness of Jehovah might rise in a brighter light, 
on the dark ground of Israel's repeated unfaithfulness. Still, 
this circumstance does not justify the conclusion that nothing but 
apostasy, idolatry and confusion, prevailed in this period. Sea- 
sons of repose and peace, embracing forty, and even eighty years, 
intervene between those of confusion, which the record does not 
purpose to describe in detail, especially as the peace and order 
which characterized them, furnished few historical materials. No 
doubt very glorious fruits of a genuine theocratical state of feel- 
ing were developed and matured in retirement, during these 
happy intervals of rest; one example, at least, is furnished by 
the Scriptures in the history of Ruth. (§ 66. B.) 

Obs. — The Book of Judges is proved, by a comparison of ch. 1 : 
21. with 2 Sam. 5 : 6, 7, to have been written before the age of 
David. Jewish traditions state that Samuel was the author. The 



160 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Chronology of the age of the Judges is not unattended with difficul- 
ties. The statement in Acts 13 : 20, which connects a period of 450 
years with the Judges, cannot furnish a solution, as it is expressed 
in general terms (" about the space") and does not claim a chrono- 
logical character ; it is founded simply on the addition of all the 
numbers mentioned in the book of Judges, some of which, however, 
synchronize with others, and are to be deducted from this total. We 
find one express and clearly fixed chronological point in 1 Kings 6 : 
1, according to which 480 years intervene between the departure out 
of Egypt, and the building of the temple, in the fourth year of Solo- 
mon's reign ; after the necessary deductions have been made, about 
320 years remain for the age of the Judges. The chronological data 
in the book of Judges agree with this result, if the Ammonite op- 
pression of the east-Jordanic territory (Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Ab- 
don) are assumed as cotemporaneous with the Philistine oppression 
of the west-Jordanic territory. (Eli, Samson, Samuel.) In this case, 
Eli's priesthood preceded the term of Samson's labors ; the first ope- 
rations of Samuel (merely prophetic in their character), belong to 
Samson's term, and it was only after the death of the latter, that he 
assumed the office of a Judge. (See ? 67, &c.) It may, indeed, ap- 
pear a singular circumstance, that the book of Judges should not 
refer to Eli and Samuel, and that the two books of Samuel should 
not mention Samson, but both circumstances are readily and satis- 
factorily explained by the difference in the objects for which these 
books respectively were written. The books of Samuel design to re- 
late the history of David, the necessary introduction of which is an 
account of Saul, Samuel, and Eli, the events of whose lives are in- 
terwoven with those which belong to the earlier years of David's 
career; and here, no reference whatever to Samson was required. 
The book of Judges, on the other hand, relates nothing concerning 
Eli, because he was not a Judge, in the peculiar sense of that word, 
but presided over public affairs merely in the capacity of a high- 
priest; and it related nothing concerning Samuel, since his later 
acts, when he officiated as a Judge, no longer belong to the period 
of Israel's repeated apostasy from Jehovah, which it is the design 
of this book to describe. 

§ 65. Events subsequent to the Death of Joshua. — The First 
. Judges. 

1. Judges, ch. 1. — After the death of Joshua, the Lord ap- 
pointed the tribe of Judah to be the leader of the people in the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 161 

war with the Canaanites. They proceed first against Adoni- 
bezek, king of Bezek, whose thumbs and great toes they cut off, 
even as he confesses that he had done unto 70 kings. Judah 
takes possession of the mountains which bear the same name. 
The children of Benjamin were more remiss; they conquered 
Beth-el, and destroyed the inhabitants, but could not subdue the 
Jebusites, who occupied the upper city of Jerusalem or Mount 
Zion. (§ 74. 1, § 75.) The other tribes did not drive out the 
inhabitants, but merely put them temporarily to tribute. 

Obs. — Two events occurred soon after the death of Joshua, and 
while the high-priest Phinehas survived (ch. 20 : 28), the history of 
which forms an appendix to the Book of Judges, and which is given 
because it affords important aid in understanding the period of tran- 
sition, which is succeeded by the dissoluteness and confusion that 
characterize the age of the Judges. The first is described in ch. 17 
and 18 ; Micah unlawfully erects a sanctuary in his own house ; it 
is seized by certain emigrating Danites, and erected in Laish or Dan, 
in the northern part of the country. The second is described in ch. 
19-21 ; the inhabitants of Gibeah in Benjamin commit a grievous 
trespass, that almost occasioned the extinction of the whole tribe, 
because the children of Benjamin refused to surrender the criminals. 

2. Judg. ch. 3-5. — Othniel, the nephew of Caleb (§ 54. 1), 
was the first judge. He delivered the Israelites from the oppres- 
sion of Chushan-risbathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into whose 
hand the Lord had sold them, on account of their apostasy. The 
repetition of the sin caused them to serve Eglon the king of 
Moab; to him Ehud the judge brings the tribute into the 
summer-parlor, while he also bears a dagger. " I have a mes- 
sage from God unto thee," he says to the king, and pierces him 
with the weapon ; he gathers the children of Israel, and the 
defeat of Moab was so complete that not a man escaped. This 
vigorous act was succeeded by a rest, which the land enjoyed 
during eighty years. — After Ehud, Shamgar slew 600 Philistines 
with an ox-goad. — The people afterwards suffered during twenty 
years the oppression of Jabin, who reigned in Hazor ; this city 
had been destroyed by Joshua, and was afterwards rebuilt by the 
pagans. Jabin was the established title of the king. The pro- 
phetess Deborah places Barak at the head of the army, and, at 
14* 



162 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

his request, accompanied him to the battle. Sisera is the leader 
of the army of the enemy, and brings 900 scythe-chariots with 
him. His powerful army is totally defeated, and he himself is 
put to death in the tent of Jael, where he had sought refuge. 
Deborah sings a psalm commemorating the victory, and the land 
had rest forty years. 

Obs. — The act of Jael, who smote a nail into the temples of the 
sleeping Sisera, does not claim our approbation ; still, when we esti- 
mate the character of the act, the extenuating circumstances are 
entitled to attention — the times in which she lived, her ardent and 
enthusiastic devotion to the cause of Israel, the general and glowing 
hatred of the tyrannical oppressor of the people, &c. If such con- 
siderations are allowed to plead in favor of a Charlotte Corday, 
much more appropriately do they vindicate the act of a Jael. — The 
same remark applies to the act of Ehud, which, according to our 
moral principles, was an assassination worthy of reprobation alone. 

§ 66. A. — Gideon and Abimelech. 

1. Judg. ch. 6. — The children of Israel did evil again in the 
sight of the Lord, and the hand of Midian oppressed them seven 
years with great severity ; they were compelled to conceal them- 
selves in dens and caves in the mountains, in order to escape the 
predatory and bloody incursions of their enemies, while these 
ravaged their fields and carried all their cattle away. Then they 
cried unto the Lord, who first sent a prophet commissioned to 
deepen their penitential feelings, and then raised up for them a 
new saviour, in the person of Gideon. The Angel of the Lord, 
sitting under an oak in Ophrah, in the mountains of Ephraim, 
salutes him as he is threshing wheat by his father's wine-press, 
and says : " The Lord is (be) with thee, thou mighty man of 
valour!" Gideon brings an offering (§ 45. 1, Obs.), and fire 
out of the rock consumes the sacrifice. In obedience to the 
angel's command, he destroys Baal's altar and grove, and thence 
obtains the name of Jerubbaal (that is, Let Baal plead, or, avenge 
himself). With great faith and boldness, he twice asks for the 
most complete evidence of his divine mission, and twice receives 
a sign in a fleece of wool. 

Obs. — A symbolical meaning is here, as in every miraculous sign, 
contained in the double sign in the fleece, which gives an assurance 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 1G3 

to Gideon that the Lord will grant him power and success in the 
dangerous enterprise in which he is called to engage. The fleece in 
the midst of the earth, denotes Israel in the midst of the heathen 
world ; the dew is always a symbol of divine kindness and grace ; it 
is God alone who both forsakes (dryness) and refreshes (moisture) 
the people of Israel. The previous success of the pagans proceeded 
from the same God who now restores to his repenting people the 
grace which he had withdrawn. 

2. Judg. ch. 7, 8. — Gideon soon collected a considerable army, 
but the Lord is pleased to afford help, on this occasion, not by 
many, but by few, lest Israel should say : " Mine own hand hath 
saved me." Gideon, accordingly, dismisses 22,000 men, who 
are fearful and afraid ; concerning the 10,000 who remained, the 
Lord again said : " The people are too many." He selected 300 
men at the brook, who took up water in their hands as they 
dranjr, without regarding their strength or weakness, their cou- 
rage or fear. The discouraged Midianites themselves give such 
an interpretation to a certain dream concerning a cake of barley- 
bread which rolled onward and overthrew a tent, that it applies 
to Gideon, who had approached the camp of the enemy, and 
heard the conversation. The gleaming of Gideon's torches, the 
notes of his trumpets, the crashing of the pitchers, and the war- 
cry : " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," produce the 
wildest confusion in the enemy's camp, and each Midianite directs 
his sword against his neighbor. Gideon performs the duties of 
a judge forty years, rejects, with genuine theocratical sentiments, 
the offer of the crown and of the right to transmit it to his 
descendants, and says : U I will not rule over you, neither shall 
my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you." 

Obs. — It is characteristic of the age of the Judges, that this 
genuine theocratical act of Gideon, is followed by one of a decidedly 
untheocratical character, which the same heroic believer commits. 
He introduces at Ophrah an unlawful and forbidden mode of wor- 
ship, in opposition to that which was offered at the tabernacle in 
Shiloh [l 45. 1, Obs.) ; this act not only became a snare to his own 
house, but also turned the hearts of the Israelites from the appointed 
sanctuary and the true worship. 

3. Judg. ch. 9 — Abimelech, the son of Gideon and a concu- 
bine who came from Shechem, is made king by the men of that 



164 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

city, after his father's death. He immediately slew all his bre- 
thren, with the exception of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. 
The latter addresses the men of Shechem, from the top of Mount 
Gerizim, and relates a parable : after the olive-tree, the fig-tree 
and the vine, had successively refused the crown, the trees made 
the bramble their king, to their own destruction; thus, too, 
Abimelech and the people of Shechem are devoted by Jotham to 
reciprocal destruction. A civil war commences after the expira- 
tion of three years, in which nearly all the people of Shechem 
are destroyed by Abimelech, and he himself is ultimately killed 
by a piece of a millstone which a woman cast from a tower upon 
his head. 

§ 66. B. — The History of Ruth. 

A certain man of Bethlehem, named Elimelech, together with 
his wife Naomi and his two sons, went to the country of Moab, 
in consequence of a famine which prevailed in Israel ; it had, 
very probably, been occasioned by the predatory incursions of the 
Midianites, to which Gideon had put an end. The two sons 
married Orpah and Ruth, two of the women of Moab. The 
father died; his two sons also died, without leaving children. 
Naomi returns to her own country, and the two widowed daugh- 
ters-in-law propose to accompany her ; Orpah submits to her de- 
cision, and remains behind. But the noble heart of Ruth is 
controlled by an irrepressible desire to obtain communion with the 
people of Jehovah. On their arrival in Bethlehem, Ruth begins 
to glean in the field after the reapers, for the purpose of obtaining 
food for Naomi and herself, and receives kind treatment in the 
field of Boaz. In this event, Naomi sees the finger of God, for 
Boaz was one of the nearest kinsmen, and was accordingly subject 
to the law concerning Levirate marriages. As soon as he is made 
acquainted with all the circumstances of the case, he readily com- 
plies with his obligations, and Ruth ultimately becomes the great- 
grandmother of king David. 

Obs. 1. — The Booh of Ruth, which contains this very beautiful 
narrative was written after the days of David ; the author's name is 
unknown. As the books of Samuel contained no special record in 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 165 

reference to the ancestors of the house of David, the author prepared 
this book for the purpose of supplying the deficiency. The chief 
significance of the book, however, arises from the circumstance that 
David's great-grandmother is also an ancestress of Christ. It is alsc 
a very significant fact that the heroine of the book is a heathen wo- 
man ; she is, indeed, the third heathen woman in the genealogy of 
David and Christ, being preceded by the Canaanitess Tamar (Gen. 
ch. 38), and the Canaanitess Rahab. (§ 60. 2,) She is the most noble 
of all — a consecrated blossom of paganism, turning, with a longing 
desire, to the light and salvation of Israel. The fact that these three 
females are brought forward and ingrafted on the chosen line or 
family, conveys a very expressive lesson to the Israelites, lowers their 
national pride, and bears testimony (by being both a fulfilment and 
a type), to all that had been promised to Abraham respecting his 
seed. (§ 24. 1, Obs. 2.) Of those who are blessed in the seed of 
Abraham, Naomi represents the people of God who are to proceed 
from the ancient people of the covenant, and Ruth represents those 
proceeding from the heathen world. 

Obs. 2. — For the law of Levirate marriages (levir, that is, brother- 
in-law), see Deut. 25 : 5-10. When an Israelite died without leaving 
children, the nearest kinsman married the surviving widow, and the 
first-born son of this marriage was regarded as the son of the de- 
ceased, and, as such, his name was inserted in the genealogy. 

§ 67. Jephthah. 

1. Judg. ch. 10. — The people again served Baalim and Ash- 
taroth, and the anger of the Lord sold those who dwelt in the 
western portion of the land into the hands of the Philistines, 
and those in the eastern portion, into the hands of the Ammo- 
nites; these oppressed Israel on the other side of the Jordan, 
eighteen years. The people cry unto the Lord; he directs them 
to apply for help to the strange gods which they had served. 
But they humble themselves before the Lord, and he has com- 
passion on them again. The children of Israel encamp in 
Mizpah, opposite to the enemy, but they have not yet found a 
leader. 

2. It is Jephthah, the son of a strange woman, whom the Lord 
appoints to be the saviour of the people. After having been ex- 
pelled from his father's house, he had dwelt in the land of Tob, 



166 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

a region in the east-Jordanic territory, the boundaries of which 
are not distinctly known. Here he collected a small body of men, 
and occasionally conducted hostile expeditions against the Ammo- 
nites. Messengers are now sent to him, who solicit him to ae- 
cept the office of captain or leader of the host. His efforts to 
secure a peaceful issue of the controversy with the king of the 
Ammonites, are made in vain. The latter are entirely defeated, 
but Jephthah' s vow robs him of his only daughter. The suc- 
cessful termination of the contest awakens the envy of the proud 
tribe of Ephraim. As they had not been requested by Jephthah 
to assist him, they invade the eastern territory, but are defeated; 
and, as no one was permitted to pass over the Jordan who could 
not pronounce the word " Shibboleth" (signifying both an ear of 
corn and a stream, and pronounced Sibboleth by the Ephraimites), 
all the men of Ephraim were detected and slain. Jephthah 
judged Israel six years only. After him Ibzan was judge in the 
east-Jordanic territory seven years, Elon ten years, and Abdon 
eight years. 

Obs. — Jephthah had vowed that if he should be successful in his 
contest with the Ammonites, " whatsoever came forth of the doors 
of his house to meet him should surely be the Lord's, and that he 
would offer it up for a burnt-offering." It was his only child who 
met him ! It is true that a mode of interpreting this vow and its 
fulfilment has been proposed, according to which Jephthah's daugh- 
ter was not offered as a sacrifice, but devoted to a life of celibacy, 
and consecrated to the service of the tabernacle ; and the confirma- 
tion of this view has been sought in the institution of an order of 
females who served before the tabernacle (Exod. 38 : 8 ; 1 Sam. 2 : 
22 ; Luke 2 : 37). Luther already remarked : " Some maintain that 
she was not sacrificed, but the text is too clear to admit of this inter- 
pretation." But stronger evidence of her sacrifice than even the un- 
ambiguous words of the vow afford, is found in the distress of the 
father, in the magnanimous resignation of the daughter, in the 
annual commemoration and lamentation of the daughters of Israel, 
and, particularly, in the narrative of the historian himself, who is 
not able to describe clearly and distinctly the terrible scene on which 
he gazes both with admiration and with abhorrence. The Law un- 
doubtedly prohibited human sacrifices as the extreme of all heathen 
abominations (Lev. 18 : 21 ; Deut. 12 : 31, &c). But the age of the 
Judges had descended to a point far below the lofty position occu- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 167 

pied by the Law. Even in the most eminent men of that age, as in 
Gideon (§ 66. A. 2, Obs.), the theocratico-legal sense or conscious- 
ness is often clouded, or even disappears entirely ; and it is by no 
means an inexplicable circumstance that in this point Jephthah's 
decided but rude character still remains ensnared and fettered by 
the gloomy influence of that horrible superstition. (See \ 29. 2. Obs.) 

§ 68. Eli, the High-Priest, 

1. Judges, ch. 13; 1 Sam. ch. 1-3. — At the time of the in- 
vasion of the Ammonites, which resulted in the conquest of the 
east-Jordanic territory, the Philistines conquered the west-Jor- 
danic territory (and retained possession of it forty years). Eli 
was the high-priest at this time : he was governed by good inten- 
tions, but was a weak man, not fitted either for the religious or 
the political task which the necessities of the times imposed upon 
him. But the Lord provided for the people in both respects. 
At the beginning of the Philistine oppression, two children were 
born, who were both dedicated to the Nazareate (§ 52. A. Obs.), 
and both were appointed to restore, in different modes, the fallen 
children of Israel. The angel of the Lord announced to the wife 
of Manoah the Danite, who was barren, that she should bear a 
son (named Samson) who should be a Nazarite from his birth, 
and who should begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of 
the Philistines. Soon after, Hannah (the wife of Elkanah, a 
Levite of mount Ephraim), who was also barren, obtains a 
son from the Lord, in answer to her prayers, whom she names 
Samuel (that is, asked of God, or, heard of God), and dedicates 
as a Nazarite to the service of the tabernacle. — In the mean time 
Hophni and Phinehas, the wicked sons of Eli, commit abomina- 
tions even before the holy place, and their weak father does not 
restrain them. Then the Lord appears by night to Samuel, who 
ministers before the tabernacle j Samuel does not yet know the 
Lord, but he follows the directions of Eli, and answers : " Speak, 
Lord; for thy servant heareth." The Lord informs him of the ap- 
proaching ruin of Eli and of his whole house • but Eli says : " It 
is the Lord \ let him do what seemeth him good." 

Obs. — The Levitical descent of Samuel is ascertained from 1 
Chron. 6 : 20-28, and 33 : 38 ; it is not inconsistent with this state- 



168 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

merit that his father is called an Ephraimite : he was one of those 
Levites to whom cities were assigned in the portion of the tribe of 
Ephraim (Joshua, 21 : 20). An analogous case occurs in Judges, 
17 : 7. 

2. 1 Sam. ch. 4-6. — The Israelites make an attempt to re- 
lease themselves from the yoke of the Philistines, and carry the 
ark of the covenant with them into battle, supposing that its pre- 
sence will give them the victory. It falls into the hands of the 
Philistines, who place it in the temple of their idol Dagon. The 
idol is twice found prostrate on the ground, and the Philistines 
themselves are visited with painful plagues, which destroy many 
of them. Two milch-kine conduct the ark and certain golden 
offerings to Beth-shemesh, a city on the borders of the tribe of 
Judah, where the kine are offered as a burnt-offering, and the 
Levites take possession of the ark. Seventy* prying and over- 
curious men of Beth-shemesh, who look into the ark of the Lord, 
suffer death (Numb. 4 : 20). The ark is then taken to Kirjath- 
jearim, which also belongs to the tribe of Judah. — The sons of 
Eli had perished in the battle ; when the tidings reach him that 
the ark is taken, he falls from his seat, and his neck is broken. 
These events occurred about the twentieth year of the Philistine 
oppression. — Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and all 
Israel knew that he was established to be a prophet of the Lord 
(ch. 3 : 19-21). 

Obs. — The ark of the covenant was not restored to the Tabernacle. 
David afterwards caused a tent to be constructed for it on Mount 
Zion, in which it was deposited. (§ 74.) At a later period, Solomon 
placed it in the temple which he built. (§ 81.) — The Tabernacle, 
with the altar of burnt-offering and all the vessels belonging to it, 
remained in Shiloh. "We afterwards find them in Gibeon (1 Kings 
3:4; 1 Chron. 16 : 39 ; 21 : 29), but we are not informed of the 
time and of the purpose of the removal. After Solomon had com- 
pleted the building of the temple, the tabernacle, with its vessels and 
furniture, was deposited within its precincts. (1 Kings 8 : 4. See 
I 71, Obs. 2.) 

* According to the received text, the number consists of " seventy men, 
iifty thousand men." This uncommon expression, and the fact that the 
words " fifty thousand men" are wanting in some manuscripts, alike in- 
dicate that these latter words are erroneously inserted in the text 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 169 



§ 69. Samson. 

1. Judg. ch. 14, 15. — The oppression of the Philistines had 
not fully produced the intended effect, and is, therefore, con- 
tinued, even after the restoration of the ark of the covenant. It 
had, nevertheless, made an impression on the people, and the 
previous indication of Jehovah's grace is accordingly soon fol- 
lowed by a second, in the appearance of a new judge; Samson, 
the Danite, had been appointed, even before his birth, to begin 
the deliverance of Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. — 
The Spirit of the Lord began to move him to engage in the work 
which he was called to perform ; but the place and the mode of 
beginning were not yet apparent. It occurred that he saw one 
of the daughters of the Philistines, whom he desired to obtain 
as his wife; it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion 
against the Philistines. His wife reveals to her people the solu- 
tion of his riddle (meat out of the eater, sweetness out of the 
strong) ; he thence takes occasion to slay thirty Philistines, for 
the sake of obtaining their garments. His wife is given to 
another man ; this circumstance induces him to send 300 jackals, 
with fire-brands attached to them, into the standing corn of the 
Philistines, and to destroy all of the enemy whom he could find. 
He afterwards dwells in the rock Etam, in the mountains of 
Judah, but freely permits the men of Judah to bind him, and 
deliver him to the Philistines. The rejoicing of the latter is 
premature; the Spirit of the Lord comes mightily upon him; he 
breaks the cords upon his arms, as if they were flax burnt with 
fire, seizes the jaw-bone of an ass which had recently been* cast 
away in that spot, and slays a thousand men with it. He calls 
the place Ramath-lehi, (that is, the casting away of the jaw-bone,') 
and when he is sore athirst, God cleaves a hollow place in Lehi 
(translated, "in the jaw"), and water comes forth. 

Obs. 1. — It was undoubtedly untheocratic, and contrary to the law 
(Deut. 7 : 3, 4; 21 : 12, 13), that Samson, ensnared by the lust of 
the eyes, did not resign the Philistine woman ; it was, nevertheless, 
of the Lord, that this error furnished an opportunity to Samson for 
engaging in his appointed work. 
15 



170 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. 2. — The occurrences which took place, when Samson visited 
Timnath, the residence of the woman (the lion, and the honey after- 
wards found in the carcass), were highly significant, and adapted to 
instruct both him and his people. He seems himself to be aware, in 
some degree, of their importance, as he introduces them in his riddle. 
The lion, namely, is an image of the kingdoms of the world which 
are hostile to the kingdom of God ; the attack, the struggle, and the 
victory thus acquire a symbolical meaning. — The riddle also includes 
a truth of great importance, the evidence of which is furnished in 
manifold ways by the history of the world, and which admits of an 
appropriate application even to our times. The attack of the lion 
was an image of the Philistine invasion ; the eater furnished Israel 
with meat and sweetness, the destroyer brought salvation and bless- 
ings with him ; for the yoke of the Philistines was a chastisement, 
designed to lead the people to repentance, and terminate in their 
renewed acceptableness before God. 

2. Judg. ch. 16. — In Gaza, Samson enters the house of an 
abandoned female ; the inhabitants close the gates of the city, 
for the purpose of taking him. But he seizes the doors of the 
gate, with the posts and bar, places the whole on his shoulders, 
and carries all to the top of a hill before Hebron. — He is a third 
time ensnared by a Philistine woman; Delilah, who resides in 
the valley of Sorek, receives a bribe from the Philistine princes, 
amounting to 1100 pieces of silver, and employs all the arts of a 
wanton in her efforts to induce him to disclose the secret of his 
great strength. He deceives the treacherous woman thrice; she 
makes a fourth attempt, presses him continually with her words, 
and vexes his soul unto death ; he yields, and tells her all his 
heart. She cuts off the seven Nazaritic locks of his head, and 
now his strength departs, for his Nazaritic vow, of which the 
uncut hair of the head was the sign and surety (§ 52. A, Obs.), 
is violated. The Philistines put out his eyes, which had tempted 
him to commit untheocratic and sinful deeds, bind him with 
fetters of brass, and compel him to grind in the prison. The 
hair of his head grows again, and, as he now acknowledges and 
repents of his sinful course, the power which God gave, returns 
with the outward sign of the vow. He is required to amuse the 
Philistines who are assembled to observe a festival of their idol 
Dagon ; with each of his hands he seizes one of the two middle 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 171 

pillars supporting the edifice in which all were gathered together, 
bows himself with great power, and is buried under the ruins of 
the fallen building, together with all the people and the princes 
of the Philistines ; the work which he had imperfectly performed 
while he lived, he completed when he died. 

Obs. — Samson was able only to " begin to deliver Israel out of 
the hand of the Philistines" (13 : 5) ; the source of this incomplete- 
ness of his work, unquestionably, lay in himself His acts were 
dictated by caprice and the impulse of the moment; he frittered away 
the lofty powers which had been deposited in him by the Lord ; the 
lust of the eyes caused him to forget the divine call which he had 
received. Still, these incomplete results may be ascribed, perhaps 
even more justly, to the defects in the character of his people and 
his age. The people always permit him to stand unaided and alone ; 
their pusillanimous spirit even surrenders him to the enemy. That 
age had passed away already, in which one man, when moved by the 
Spirit of God, could become the saviour of the whole people ; even 
a Gideon or a Jephthah, could not have accomplished much more, in 
Samson's position, than he performed. The work which Samson 
began, could not be completed, until Samuel had instituted a reforma- 
tion by which the spirit of the people was renewed in God, and until 
David appeared. 



FIFTH PERIOD. 

FROM SAMUEL TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AND THE 
DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. 

§ 70. Characteristic Features of this Period. 

1. While the age of Eli and Samson is passing away, a new 
period, commencing with Samuel, approaches, during which the 
theocratical state is destined to attain to the highest degree of 
prosperity. The gifts which God had bestowed on his people 
through Moses and Joshua — a country, independence, supreme 
political power vested in the people, laws and a religion — had 
nevertheless, through the fault of the people, not led to that com- 
plete development of the Theocracy, which they were fitted and 
designed to produce. (§ 64.) That development had been hith- 



172 KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

erto sustained by the people in their civil capacity, and by the 
priesthood ; both were found to be no longer suited as its vehicles, 
and hence, two new influences now appear, represented by the 
institution or order of the Prophets, and by the Royal dignity. 
The word of the Lord was precious (rare) in those days \ there 
was no open vision. (1 Sam. 3 : 1.) Prophecy, which had pre- 
viously influenced the development of the kingdom of God in 
isolated cases only, henceforth appears as a leaven permanently 
operating in the state ; of this change Samuel was the author. 
The class of men appropriately termed Prophets, and the pro- 
phetic office itself, which now acquired a permanent character, 
originated in the schools of the prophets which he established. 
But prophecy is the mouth of God (Exod. 4 : 15, 16)— it is the 
conscience of the state. It teaches all to understand the true 
character, position and purposes of the present time, by references 
to the past and the future. 

Obs. — The " schools of the prophets," which were placed under 
the direction of experienced and approved prophets, afforded to 
younger men an opportunity of becoming qualified to perform the 
duties of the prophetic calling. The selection and the admission of 
individuals who were suited for the prophetic office by their personal 
character, and who had a divine call, undoubtedly depended on the 
prophetic judgment of those who presided over these institutions. 
As prophecy was a gift and not an art, the instructions which were 
imparted, probably referred merely to the study of the law, and were 
intended to awaken and cultivate theocratical sentiments, as well as 
promote a growth in spiritual life, for herein a suitable preparation 
for the prophetic office necessarily consisted. There are also indica- 
tions found which authorize us to conclude that the revival of sacred 
poetry, as an art, and that theocratico-historical composition also, 
are to be ascribed to these religious communities as their source. 
Such schools existed in Ramah, Jericho, Beth-el, and Gilgal. (1 Sam. 
19 : 18 ; 2 Kings 2 : 3, 5 ; 4 : 38.) Those who frequented them, 
had, usually, reached the age of manhood already, and in some cases, 
were married men. They lived together in a society or community, 
which often embraced a large number of members, and were occa- 
sionally employed as prophetic messengers by their teachers. 
(2 Kings 9:1.) However, the prophets were not invariably trained 
in these schools ; several are named who were taken at once from 
civil life and invested with the prophetic office. (1 Kings 19 : 19 ; 



KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 173 

Amos 7 : 14.) The company of the disciples of John the Baptist, 
and also the company of the Saviour's disciples, have perhaps an 
analogy, in some respects, to the ancient schools of the prophets. 

2. Besides prophecy, a new element also appears in the Royal 
dignity which was introduced, and which furnished the state with 
a visible point of union and a head. It is true that a kingly 
government was established through the wilful and un theocratic 
self-determination of the people ; nevertheless, Jehovah, the in- 
visible King, had already designed to establish it, although under * 
other circumstances (§ 72. 2, Obs.) ; he permitted its introduc- 
tion at the present time, because the prophetic office, which was 
already firmly established, and armed with the sword of the 
Spirit (which is the word of God, Eph. 6 : 17), formed a power 
distinct from the royal power, and could exercise a supervision 
over the latter, affording admonitions to it, and rebuking its 
abuses. — The Old Testament economy attained its loftiest eleva- 
tion, externally, through David's conquests, and internally, 
through the building of Solomon's temple. The great Messianic 
hope depends on the house of David (§ 76. 1), and is placed in a 
still clearer light by the introduction of the royal dignity; for 
David's power and victories, and Solomon's peaceful and glorious 
reign, may be applied as types of the Messianic kingdom, while 
the Old Testament worship reached its highest and most splendid 
development in the building of Solomon's temple. 

Obs. 1. — The state or political organization reaches its highest 
development, when royalty is introduced. The King of Israel is 
not, however, intended to be an autocratic but a theocratic king ; 
the prophet and the priest, in their official capacity, did not 
occupy a subordinate, but a co-ordinate rank. As men and as citi- 
zens, they were under an obligation, like all other subjects, to obey 
the king ; but with respect to their prophetic and priestly offices, 
they were dependent on God alone, and by no means on the king. 

Obs. 2. — The sources whence the materials of the history of this 
period, and also of the next, are derived, are the following : 1. The 
two Books of Samuel. — These commence with the history of Eli and 
Samuel, and extend to the last days of David. The author's name is 
not known with certainty ; he was, however, very probably, a cotem- 
porary of David, and composed them soon after the death of the latter. 
16 * 



174 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

2. The two Books of the Kings. — They extend from the beginning of 
Solomon's reign to the Babylonian captivity. The history of the 
two kingdoms, after the division is related in the synchronal mode.. 
Jewish traditions indicate Jeremiah as the author. — 3. The two 
Books of the Chronicles (Paralipomena). — They begin with genea- 
logical tables which ascend to the patriarchs ; these are succeeded 
by the history of David, Solomon, and the kingdom of Judah ; they 
close with the edict of Cyrus permitting the captives to return to their 
country. They omit the history of Saul and of the kingdom of the 
Ten tribes, and the author dwells with special interest on the re- 
ligious condition of the people and the worship of Jehovah. Accord- 
ing to Jewish traditions, Ezra is the author. — 4. In reference to the 
later periods of time, additional historical sources are found in the 
writings of the prophets, and in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and 
Esther (see \ 108). 

§ 71. Samuel, and the Reformation of the People. 

1 Sam. ch. 7. — While external measures were adopted by 
Samson, during the period in which he judged the people, the 
prophetico-reformatory efforts of Samuel, which were of an 
internal nature, were continued in a slow and quiet manner. 
Soon after the death of Samson, which had inflicted greater evils 
on the Philistines than all the actions of his life, and which could 
not fail to arouse the Israelites, Samuel gathered the people 
together, after having silently continued his preparatory labors 
during twenty years. All the people submit, when he admonishes 
them to acknowledge their sins and to repent. In obedience to 
his command, the children of Israel remove every trace of 
idolatry in their midst, and serve the Lord alone. They gather 
together in Mizpeh, by his directions, and observe a day of hu- 
miliation and of prayer for the whole nation. They drew water 
poured it out before the Lord, confessed their sins, and fasted the 
whole day. Hitherto Samuel had labored to revive Israel, only 
in virtue of his prophetic office, but on this occasion, the voice 
of God and the voice of the people united in investing him with 
the office of a judge also; he discharged its duties in Mizpeh. 
When the Philistines hear of this general rising of the oppressed 
Israelites, they approach with a powerful army, for the purpose 
of suppressing it in its incipient stage. The opportunity is now 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 175 

furnished for ascertaining whether Samuel possesses the means 
of sustaining himself in his judicial authority as well as in his 
prophetic office, or rather of sustaining the former by the aid of 
the latter. He offers a sacrifice, and the Lord thunders with a 
great thunder, insomuch that the Philistines are terrified and 
smitten before Israel. Samuel erects near Mizpeh the memorial- 
stone named Eben-ezer (that is, stone of help), and says : 
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Thus Israel was delivered 
out of the hand of the Philistines, and Samuel judged Israel all 
the days of his life (about twenty years after these events). He 
dwelt in Hainan, and there built an altar unto the Lord. 

Obs. 1. — The symbolical act of pouring out water is to be inter- 
preted according to Ps. 22 : 14; "I am poured out like water, and 
all my bones are out of joint ; my heart is like wax : it is melted — ;" 
and 2 Sam. 14 : 14, "We must needs die, and are as water spilt on 
the ground — ." It is an image of the complete dispersion, faintness 
and helplessness of the Israelites ; they are now painfully conscious 
of their real situation, and beseech the Lord to deliver them from it. 

Obs. 2. — After the disaster which was rendered memorable by 
the loss of the ark of the covenant (§ 68), the regular public wor- 
ship in Israel was discontinued, and, amid the confusion of the times, 
was not restored, even after the recovery of the ark. Shiloh was 
rejected, and the ark remained in Kirjath-jearim, waiting till a 
brighter day would restore it to its place. That day did not arrive 
till David appeared. (§74.) It was during this intermediate period, 
that Samuel, in virtue of his prophetic office, formed the medium of 
communication between God and his people. 

§ 72. The Appointment and the Rejection of Saul. 

1. 1 Sam. ch. 8-14. — "When Samuel was old, his sons did not 
walk in his ways, but perverted judgment. Moreover, the king 
of the Ammonites pursued a hostile course towards Israel (12 : 
12), and the people approached Samuel, requesting him to give 
them a king such as the heathen nations around them possessed. 
In accordance with the directions of God, Samuel anointed Saul 
as their king, who was the son of Kish, a Benjamite, and to 
whom God gave another heart. (10 : 9.) Nahash, who besieged 
Jabesh in Gilead, and had threatened to thrust out the right eyes 



176 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

of all the inhabitants, is defeated. Saul likewise gains a com- 
plete victory over the Philistines, chiefly through the heroism of 
his son Jonathan. — At this juncture, Samuel takes leave of the 
people. In answer to his inquiry, they testify before the Lord, 
and before his anointed, that they find no cause of complaint in 
him. He reproaches them on account of the un theocratic senti- 
ments which had urged them to ask for a king; the thunder and 
the rain which the Lord sends (an unprecedented occurrence at 
that period of the year, 12 : 17), confirm the truth of his words, 
and fill the people with fear. He reassures them, urges them to 
be obedient to the Lord, and solemnly declares, that although he 
is no longer a judge, yet as a prophet, he will not cease to pray 
for them, and to teach them the way of the Lord. 

2. 1 Sam. ch. 15, 16. — But the carnal self-will of Saul caused 
him to forget his theocratic position. Even previous to his war 
with the Philistines, he had presumed to offer a sacrifice himself, 
and had been told by Samuel that his kingdom should not con- 
tinue (13 : 14). He afterwards receives a divine command to de- 
stroy Amalek utterly, slaying both the people and all their cattle, 
as accursed things; his self-will permits him to obey only par- 
tially, for he spares Agag the king, and the best of the flocks 
and herds. He meets Samuel with false and deceitful words, but 
is betrayed by the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the 
oxen which he had set aside ; the prophet announces God's irre- 
vocable sentence of rejection, and with theocratic zeal executes 
the divine sentence of destruction passed upon Agag, with his 
own hand. — The Lord selects as his anointed a lad who kept his 
father's sheep — David, the youngest son of Jesse; through him 
the tribe of Judah acquired the position assigned to it by the 
ancient promise (Gen. 49 : 8-10, § 35. 2), and subsequent ar- 
rangements (Judges, 1 : 1, 2, § 65. 1). (David's genealogy is 
found in Ruth, 4 : 18-22; 1 Chron. 2 : 1-17; and Matt. 1 : 3- 
6). He is anointed by Samuel, to whom the Lord says: " The 
Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward 
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." The Spirit of 
the Lord came upon David from that day forward, and an evil 
spirit from the Lord troubled Saul. David is conducted to the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 177 

court of the king, for the purpose of causing the evil spirit to 
depart from hini ; by playing on the harp.* 

Obs. — Ancient prophecies had declared that kings should proceed 
from the seed of Abraham (Gen. 17 : 6, 16; 35 : 11, compared with 
Gen. 36 : 31), and, with a prophetic reference to the present period, 
Moses had already given a law respecting the election and duty of a 
king (Deut. 17 : 14-20). It was, moreover, necessary that the kingly 
office, which essentially belonged to the Messiah, should be approxi- 
mated and typified in the development of the old covenant, as well as 
his priestly and his prophetic office. — For the purpose of justifying 
their demand for a king, the people strictly comply with the pro- 
visions in Deut. 17 : 14, 15 ; they do not appoint a king themselves, 
but submit the choice to the Lord, through Samuel, as the medium 
of communication (1 Sam. 10 : 24). Nevertheless, their demand was 
ungodly ; it was both premature, and also unsupported by sufficient 
reasons: they rejected Samuel whom the Lord had given as their 
judge, when they made that demand, and in Samuel, they rejected 
the Lord himself. Since they demand a king without a divine inti- 
mation, God gives them a king, even as they wish, not after his own 
heart (1 Sam. 13 : 14), but after the heart of the people, not one who 
belonged to the tribe of Judah, but one who was higher than any of 
the people from his shoulders and upward (10 : 23). David, on the 
contrary, the man after God's own heart, and of the tribe of Judah, 
was of less stature than his brothers and the youngest of all (16 : 
7, 11). 

§ 73. David's Afflictions. — Saul's Death. 

1. 1 Sam. ch. 17-19. — Another war with the Philistines com- 
mences. Goliath of Gath, the giant, openly defies the armies of 
Israel, but no one ventures to accept his challenge. David had 
previously returned to his father's house, but now appears in the 
camp with messages for his brothers : full of trust in God he re- 
solves to contend with the giant, armed with a sling and a feNV 

* No discrepancy exists between 1 Sam. 16 : 19-23 and the question 
which Saul subsequently asks: "Whose son is this youth?" (17: 55-58.) 
The king had not been previously anxious to become intimately ac- 
quainted with the origin and family- connexions of one who merely bore 
his arms and served as his harper; but when the latter is on the point 
of becoming his son-in-law, it is naturally a matter of interest to him to 
acquire a more accurate knowledge of the personal history of David. 



178 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

stones alone. His victory and the triumphal songs of the women, 
arouse the envy of Saul, who seeks to slay him, although he is 
married to Michal, the king's own daughter. David escapes the 
javelin of Saul, and flees by night to his house ; here his life is 
again saved, by an artifice of his wife, and he reaches the abode 
of Samuel in Eamah in safety. Messengers are sent by Saul to 
take him, but the Spirit of God came upon them, and they pro- 
phesied ) Saul sends messengers a second and a third time, but 
the result is the same. Then he goes himself to Ramah, but the 
Spirit of God is upon him also, and he prophesies ; hence is de- 
rived the proverb : " Is Saul also among the prophets ?" 

Obs. — That Saul's heart was not yet entirely closed to all divine 
influences, is seen in the circumstance that the spirit of prophecy 
comes upon him, even without the consent of his will. At an earlier 
and more happy period of his life, when the kingdom was first given 
to him (1 Sam. 10 : 5-11), the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him 
in the same manner, and the Lord gave him another heart. (Ver. 6 
and 9.) An unhappy change occurred in him afterwards, which con- 
ducted him to the very brink of the abyss. Once more the Spirit of 
prophecy comes upon him (precisely as in the former case, when that 
prophet is near him whose word he despises), for the purpose of ad- 
monishing him and of reminding him of that early and brighter 
period of his life, and, if possible, of inducing him to retrace his 
steps; but the effort is made in vain. The case of Balaam (g 56) is 
analogous. Henceforth all divine communications recede so far from 
Saul, that in his utter destitution of counsel and in his despair, he is 
driven to heathenish necromancy as his last resort. (See below, no. 3.) 

2. 1 Sam. ch. 20-22. — David departs from Ramah for the 
purpose of consulting with his bosom-friend Jonathan ; the latter 
makes fruitless efforts to appease his father's wrath against David. 
On perceiving that his father is determined to slay David, he 
urges his friend to flee. David proceeds to Nob, a city of the 
priests (22 : 19), not far from Jerusalem, where the high-priest 
Ahimelech gives him the shew-bread and the sword of Goliath. 
He afterwards escapes to the Philistine king, Achish, of Gath. 
The suspicions of the servants of the latter involve him in danger, 
from which a (simulated) madness extricates him. About four 
hundred men gather around him in his next place of refuge, the 
cave Adullam, not far from Bethlehem. In the mean time ; a 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 179 

malignant Edouiite, named Doeg, had communicated the occur- 
rence in Nob to Saul, who seeks revenge by slaying all the priests 
dwelling in that city; Abiathar alone escaped, and reached David, 
bringing the Urim and Thummim with him. 

8. 1 Sam. ch. 23, &c. — An invasion of the Philistines recalls 
Saul from the pursuit of David whom his men had surrounded 
and nearly taken, in the wilderness of Ziph. David's magnani- 
mous conduct subsequently, both in the cave of En-gedi, and, on 
a later occasion, in the wilderness of Ziph, induces Saul to dis- 
continue his persecutions, and to confess : " Thou art more right- 
eous than I — I have sinned. " David, however, again claims the 
protection of Achish, who assigns to him Ziklag as his residence. 
In the war which commences between Saul and Achish, the latter 
designed to conduct David with him, but abandons his purpose 
in consequence of the suspicions of his princes, and dismisses 
David. Saul had himself, in his happier days, put away those 
that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land; but 
at present the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by 
Urim and Thummim, nor by prophets. He now has recourse to 
a woman in En-dor, who practises necromancy, and the spirit of 
Samuel says to him: u To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be 
with me." The words were fulfilled : the battle went against 
Saul, and he fell upon his own sword and died. 

Obs. 1. — Samuel's spirit seems to have really appeared, not, how- 
ever, in consequence of the arts which the woman practised, for she 
is herself terrified in the highest degree, but by the direction of God 
himself, in order that the same prophet who had previously informed 
the king of his rejection, might now inform him that his destruction 
was at hand. 

Obs. 2. — The length of the reign of Saul is not stated in the 
Scriptures ; according to the Jewish historian Josephus, it comprised 
twenty years. 

§ 74. Commencement of David's Reign. — Public Worship. 

1. 2 Sam. ch. 1-6. (1 Chron. ch. 12-16.) — David mourns, 
when he hears of the death of Saul and Jonathan ; the Amalekite 
who brought the tidings to him, and boasted that he himself had 
slain Saul, receives the reward deserved by the act which he 



180 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION.' 

falsely alleges that he had done, and is put to death. The men 
of Judah proclaim David as their king, in Hebron (1055-1015 
before Christ); but Abner, the captain of Saul's host, brings Ish- 
bosheth, Saul's son, to Mahanaim, and makes him the king of the 
other tribes; he reigns two years, and is then assassinated. Ab- 
ner, who had determined to espouse the cause of David, had him- 
self been previously assassinated by Joab, the captain of David's 
host (and also his nephew, 1 Chron. 2 : 16). He was instigated 
to commit this act partly by envy, and partly by a desire to avenge 
the death of his brother Asahel, whom Abner had slain. After 
the expiration of seven years and six months, David is acknow- 
ledged by the remaining tribes as their king, and is solemnly 
anointed in Hebron. He proceeds to Jerusalem, takes the strong- 
hold of Zion from the Jebusites (§ 65. 1), builds the city of 
David there, and proposes to bring the ark of God thither. 
(§ 68.) The unauthorized act of Uzzah, who touches the ark 
(Numb. 4 : 15), occasions his death. David is alarmed by this 
event, and desists from his purpose \ but after the Lord visibly 
blessed the house of Obed-edom, with whom the ark of God had 
remained, David caused it to be brought to mount Zion. Sacri- 
fices are offered on the occasion, and all the people of Israel re- 
joice when the Levites place the ark in the tent which David had 
prepared. The king lays aside his royal robes, and dances in a 
robe of fine linen ; he replies to Michal, who had ridiculed the 
conduct which he had observed when he accompanied the ark : 
< l I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own 
sight." And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child unto 
the day of her death. 

2. David permitted the Tabernacle to remain in Gibeon (§ 68. 
2, Obs.), and carried the ark alone to mount Zion, where he had 
probably resolved already to build a temple. (§ 76. 1.) He or- 
ganized the tribe of Levi in a new and more perfect manner, in 
view of the new extension which he designed to give to the 
public worship of God. He divided the priests, the sons of 
Aaron, into twenty-four orders, each of which, in regular succes- 
sion, performed the services of the sanctuary during one week; 
of these orders 16 belonged to the family of Eleazar, and 8 to the 
family of Ithamar. (§ 37. Obs. 2.) The remaining Levites were 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 181 

also arranged in classes, to each of which particular duties were 
assigned. While the merits of David, in reference to the ad- 
vantages which he secured for the public worship of God, are 
obvious, mention may be specially made of the organization of 
three choirs composed of Levites, under the direction of the pro- 
phetical poets and singers, Heman, Asaph and Jeduthun; these 
choirs also appear in 24 divisions (1 Chron. 25), which probably 
performed the duties of their office in rotation, like the priests. 
The whole number of the singers amounted to 4000. (1 Chron. 
23 : 5.) The vocal music was accompanied by a great variety of 
musical instruments. That the singing of hymns of praise was 
not confined to the Levites exclusively, is made apparent by the 
frequent mention of singing-women (Ezra 2 : 65 ; Neh. 7 : 67; 
2 Chron. 35 : 25; Ps. 68 : 25). David himself furnished, in 
his inspired psalms, the most noble and appropriate words for the 
music which constituted a part of the public worship ; several of 
the singers whom he appointed, were also eminent as sacred poets. 
(See §§ 83 and 84.) 

§ 75. Jerusalem , the City of the King* 

1. After the strong-hold of Zion had been taken, Jerusalem 
became the capital of the kingdom, the residence of the kings, 
and the centre of the theocracy; it was pre-eminently suited to 
acquire this character by its position and environs. Jeremiah 
mournfully exclaims, as he gazes on its ruins in a later age : " Is 
this the city that men call the Perfection of beauty, the Joy of 
the whole earth V (Lam. 2 : 15); the Lord himself says : "This 
is Jerusalem : I have set it in the midst of the nations and coun- 
tries that are round about her." (Ezek. 5:5.) The position of 
the city in reference to the holy land corresponds to the position 
of the holy land itself, in reference to surrounding countries. 
(§ 22. 1.) The whole mountainous region of the western terri- 
tory seems to indicate Jerusalem as the centre or heart of the 
country, and to afford it protection. The mountains of Judah 
and Ephraim, in the midst of which it lies, seem to be merely 

* See the two plans of ancient and modern Jerusalem, on Raumer's 
map. 

16 



182 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the bastions or bulwarks, the out-posts and suburbs, of the 
splendid city of the king, while the wadis (§ 41. 2), which pro- 
ceed from this central point, and branch out in all directions, 
appear as the sally-ports and passages of the city. 

Obs. — It is also worthy of observation, that a line drawn diago- 
nally across the city and extended over the whole country, coincides 
throughout with the water-shed between the eastern and western por- 
tions of the country. — See also Ps. 122 : 3, 4. 

2. Jerusalem is situated (at a height of about 2500 feet above 
the level of the sea) on a projection of the mountains of Ephraim, 
running from north to south (an extension of mount Gihon) be- 
tween two valleys which almost encircle it, and which meet at its 
southern point. It is only on the north-western portion that the 
city is not terminated by such a steep descent, as at this point 
the south-eastern declivity of mount Grihon enters the city. On 
the north and east of the city, the brook Kidron (Cedron) flows 
through a deep valley, ultimately emptying into the Jordan. At 
a later period this valley was called the valley of Jehoshaphat 
(that is, Jehovah judges) , by referring to it without authority the 
language in Joel, ch. 3 : 2, 12. The valley of Grihon passes along 
the west side of the city, then turns on the south side, receiving 
the name of the valley of Ben-Hinnom (Gehenna), and finally 
unites with the valley of the Kidron. The mountainous projec- 
tion on which the city lies, descends abruptly into these valleys, 
and thus forms itself a natural fortification, which acquires addi- 
tional security from the circumstance that it is surrounded by 
still higher mountains which ascend on the opposite sides of these 
valleys (Ps. 125 : 2). The hill of Offence (1 Kings, 11 : 7, 8) 
and the mount of Olives on the east, the hill Scopus on the north, 
and the ridge of Gihon on the west, form a line of hills in the 
shape of a horse-shoe, protecting the city on these three sides. It 
is only on the south-western side of the city that an open pros- 
pect is afforded, for here the plain of Rephaim commences; on 
the south the view from the city is again interrupted, for at this 
point the hill of Evil Counsel appears. On this hill, according 
to tradition, Caiaphas possessed a villa, in which was held the 
meeting of the priests and others, mentioned in Matt. 26 : 3, 4; 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 183 

after the junction of the valleys of the Gihon and Kidron, the 
narrow continuation of the latter separates this hill from the 
eastern line of hills. 

3. Another valley begins at the Damascus gate, and running 
from north to south, passes through the entire city; at the point 
of union of the valleys of the Kidron and Ben-Hinnom it termi- 
nates, and exhibits at its descent into these valleys the fountain 
and pool of Siloah. In the age of the Romans this valley was 
called Tyropoeon, or valley of cheesemongers. The elevation on 
the western side of this valley is considerably higher than the 
opposite or eastern side, and hence that portion of the city which 
extended over the former, was called the upper city. The 
southern half of this western elevation is mount Zion, which 
rises abruptly from the valley of Ben-Hinnom. It was only 
during the age of the Romans that the northern half was added to 
the city. The range of eminences on the east of the Tyropoeon, 
consisting of the hill Bezetha, mount Acra, and mount Moriah, 
the site of the temple, descends precipitously, with a rocky point 
or end shaped like an isosceles triangle, into the valley of Ben- 
Hinnom. Mount Acra originally rose above Moriah, and was 
separated from it by a broad valley ', but considerations connected 
with the military defences of those points, as well as other pur- 
poses, induced the Maccabees to lower mount Acra, and fill up 
the valley.* To the upper and the lower city, called Zion and 
Acra respectively, was added, during the age of the Romans, the 
new city (or Bezetha), which included not only the hill Bezetha, 
but also the opposite elevation beyond the Tyropoeon. 

Obs. 1. — The oldest name of the city was Salem (that is, peace, § 
25. 2) ; it received the name of Jebus from its Jebusite inhabitants 
(Judges, 19 : 10). After the conquest of the city by David, the an- 
cient name was restored, and the form introduced of Jerusalem (that 
is, possession or habitation of peace). As long as the Jebusites occu- 
pied the upper city, the Israelites dwelt in the lower city, for Beze- 
tha, which extended to a considerable distance, was not added till 

* Owing to this circumstance, Acra disappeared as a distinct eminence, 
and hence some writers have identified Acra with Bezetha, while others 
have placed it west of the Tyropoeon, and north of Zion. 



184 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the age of the Romans. — In the age of Abraham, mount Moriah was 
entirely unoccupied, and even in the age of David it was merely used 
for agricultural purposes. 

Obs. 2. — The situation of the upper city or mount Zion rendered 
it the most important part of the whole city ; its importance was in- 
creased after David had established his royal residence upon it. In 
the elevated style of poetry, Zion, accordingly, often designates by a 
metonymy the holy city itself, including, particularly, the mount of 
the temple ; and, in general, Zion appears as the centre or summit 
of the theocracy and the kingdom 'of God. As a royal residence, 
Zion is also an image representing the royal power which rules vic- 
toriously in the kingdom of God. As the royal dignity in Israel was 
a type of the Messianic royalty of Christ, which fulfils and completes 
all (g 70. 2, \ 72. 2, Obs.), Jerusalem, consequently, occurs in the 
language of prophecy, and in the language of the church derived 
from the former, as a typical designation of the form of the kingdom 
of God, which is already perfected, or is approaching its completion. 

§ 76. The Promise given to David — His Victorious Reign — His 
Sin and Repentance. 

1. 2 Sam. 7 (1 Chron. 17). — After the Lord had given David 
rest from all his enemies, he resolved to build a house unto the 
Lord, for it weighed upon his heart that, while he himself dwelt 
in a palace of cedar, the ark of the covenant should abide in a 
tent. The prophet Nathan approves of this resolution, but is 
afterwards directed by the Lord to announce to David, that his 
seed after him, and not he himself, shall build a house for the 
name of God, inasmuch as he had been a man of war, and had 
shed blood, and many theocratic enemies remained about him on 
every side, whom he should subdue (1 Chron. 28 : 3; 1 Kings, 
5 : 3). On the other hand, the Lord said that he would build a 
house for David, and added the promise, that David' s seed should 
reign forever , and that the throne of his kingdom should be esta- 
blished forever. 

Obs. — This prediction refers primarily to Solomon (that is, peace- 
able), it is true ; nevertheless, it is not completely fulfilled, until the 
Prince of peace appears, who is both David's son and David's Lord 
(Matt. 22 : 42, &c), and also the archetype of Solomon himself; it 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 185 

is He who raises up the true temple of God (John 2 : 19 ; 4 : 23), 
and whose throne is established for ever at the right hand of the 
Father. For David's throne was perfected and made eternal through 
the establishment of the throne of Christ, the Ruler and Judge of the 
world ; and the conception which was expressed in the building of 
Solomon's temple, was set forth in its reality and perfection in the 
Christian Church. — This prediction involves an essential progress in 
the development of the expectations connected with the Messiah. It 
separates the family of David from the tribe of Judah, and constitutes 
it the bearer of the line of promise ; the prophetic character, the most 
exalted manifestation of which Moses had already connected with 
the expectation of the Messiah (§ 57. Obs.), is now, further, asso- 
ciated with the royal character, in two aspects of the latter, namely, 
as victorious and as peaceable — the Messianic idea is subsequently 
completed, when the character of a high priest is connected with it. 

2. 2 Sam. ch. 8-12. (1 Chron. 19, 20).— The victories of 
David in his wars with the Philistines, the Moabites, the Am- 
monites, the Syrians of Damascus and Zobah (in Mesopotamia), 
the Edomites, &c, secured for the theocratic state the greatest 
extent of territory which it ever acquired, namely, from the Eu- 
phrates to the Mediterranean Sea, and from Lebanon to the Ara- 
bian Gulf. (Gen. 15 : 18.) — David shows kindness to Mephi- 
bosheth, a son of Jonathan, who is lame ; Hanun, the king of 
the Ammonites, insults the ambassadors sent by David for the 
purpose of expressing his condolence, and is punished, together 
with Hadarezer, his powerful Syrian ally. — While Joab is occu- 
pied with the siege of Kabbah, the last city of the Ammonites, 
David remains in his house unemployed, commits adultery with 
Bathsheba, and causes Uriah her husband to die. David inflicts 
on the conquered Ammonites a cruel but retaliatory (Amos 1 : 
3, 13) punishment. Nathan leads him to pronounce sentence of 
death on himself, when he delivers the parable of the ewe-lamb, 
and announces that, in consequence of the divine curse, his sin 
shall bring bloodshed and dishonor upon his house. Nathan's 
words : " Thou art the man," make an impression — David feels 
that he has sinned against the Lord, and repents sincerely; he- 
gives expression to his deep sorrow and repentance in the fifty- 
first Psalm — a model or type of repentance, adapted to all times 
and circumstances. 
16* 



186 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 77. The Troubles occasioned by Absalom and Sheba. 

1. 2 Sam. 13-19. — The judgment which had been threatened 
soon visits the house of David. He has indeed again found 
grace in the sight of the Lord, and his sin is pardoned ; never- 
theless, the temporal consequences of the curse of sin necessarily 
pursue their course. — Amnon, David's son, dishonors and mal- 
treats his half-sister Tamar. Her brother Absalom slays Amnon, 
and then flees to his grand-father, the king of Geshur. After 
three years, Joab obtains his recall, but two additional years 
expire before he is admitted to David's presence. Absalom gains 
the favor of the people by mean arts and fair speeches, and causes 
himself to be proclaimed king in Hebron. David submits in 
humility to the judgment of the Lord, and flees from Jerusalem. 
His confidential friend Hushai succeeds in defeating the dangerous 
counsel of Ahithophel, whose vexation impels him to hang him- 
self. Shimei, a relative of Saul, curses David, and casts stones 
at him ; but David says : ft So let him curse, because the Lord 
hath said unto him, Curse David." In the mean time, David is 
enabled to gather an army, which he entrusts to his generals, 
Joab, Abishai, the brother of the latter, and Ittai, the com- 
mander of his body-guard. The battle began in the wood of 
Ephraim ; Joab receives the commission from the king : " Deal 
gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom," as 
well as the others, but, anxious to gratify his thirst for vengeance 
on account of personal offences, belonging to a former period 
(ch. 14 : 30), he kills Absalom, whose head had been caught in 
his flight by the boughs of a large oak tree. David weeps, and 
exclaims : " my son Absalom ! would God I had died for 
thee IV Amasa, the general of Absalom, and a nephew of David 
(1 Chron. 2 : 16, 17), enters the service of the latter, and Shimei 
solicits and obtains the king's pardon. The people of the tribe 
of Judah conduct David to Jerusalem with great solemnity, but 
by their course, provoke the jealousy of the other tribes. 

Obs. — The conduct of David in reference to his profligate son, is 
certainly extraordinary, but is not occasioned by weakness of cha- 
racter, which would be inconsistent with the judicial severity with 



KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 187 

which he banished him from his presence during five years. The 
shameful and sinful conduct of Absalom may be viewed in two 
aspects: it exhibits, on the one hand, the operation of the curse 
which David's sin brought upon his house (2 Sam. 12 : 10), and the 
influence of the iniquity of the fathers, which is visited upon the 
children (Exod. 20 : 5) ; it exhibits, on the other hand, Absalom's 
own degeneracy and profligacy, which fit him to be the bearer of the 
family-curse. It was not in the latter, but in the former aspect, that 
David regarded the conduct of Absalom, for his own guilt is so 
grievous in his eyes, that, in comparison with it, he deems Absalom's 
wickedness to be inconsiderable. Hence arises the deep and bound- 
less compassion with which he surveys his reprobate son. — David's 
treatment of Shimei may be regarded in the same light ; his con- 
sciousness of his own great guilt causes him to overlook the guilt of 
that criminal. 

2. 2 Sam. 20. — The Benjamite Sheba, avails himself of the 
jealousy of the other tribes, and occasions new troubles. While 
Amasa is engaged in collecting an army in Judah, Joab pursues 
Sheba, and besieges Abel, in Galilee ; he is accompanied by the 
king's body-guard, namely, the Cherethites and the Pelethites 
(executioners and couriers, or, according to others, these are 
proper names designating certain Philistine tribes which fur- 
nished men for the body-guard). The people of Sheba, who 
adopt the counsel of a wise woman, throw Sheba' s head over the 
wall, and Joab retires from the city. On the road, he pretends 
to kiss Amasa, but murders him, for the purpose of delivering 
himself from a rival. 

Obs. — Among the afflictions which David endured in consequence 
of his sin, the circumstance may, for some reasons, be enumerated, 
that he was compelled to exercise forbearance towards Joab, his 
violent, but powerful and influential general (2 Sam. 3 : 39), and 
refrain from punishing his many crimes. For the iniquitous com- 
mission which he gave to Joab to procure the death of Uriah, allied 
him to Joab's wickedness, and made him a partner of Joab's guilt. 

§ 78. David numbers the People. 

2 Sam. 20-24. (1 Chron. 21-29.) — After all the internal and 
external enemies of the theocracy are subdued, and the state has 
acquired the appointed measure of political power and greatness, 



188 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

David proceeds to institute an enumeration of the men who are 
able to bear arms, instead of reigning in peace and tranquillity. 
The prophet Gad requires him, by the command of the Lord, 
to choose one of three punishments : seven years of famine, three 
months of flight before his enemies, or three days of pestilence. 
David prefers to fall into the hand of the Lord, rather than into 
the hand of man, and, consequently, even before all the people 
were numbered, seventy thousand men died of the pestilence ; it 
was a punishment for the people, who had often rebelled against 
the Lord's anointed, and for David, who had indulged in pride. 
But the Lord beheld the destruction, and he repented him of the 
evil (1 Chron. 21 : 15), and stayed the angel's hand. David 
lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between 
the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand, 
stretched out over Jerusalem. David repented in sackcloth and 
ashes, and said : " Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly : 
but these sheep, what have they done ? Let thy hand, Lord 
my God, be on me, and on my father's house ; but not on thy 
people, that they should be plagued/' Agreeably to the directions 
of the prophet Gad (§ 45. 1, Obs.), David offers sacrifice in the 
threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on mount Moriah, where 
the angel had stayed his hand. David also there fixed the 
site of the future temple, for the building of which he is already 
diligently engaged in making preparations. 

Obs. — According to ancient predictions (Gen. 15 : 18), when Abra- 
ham's seed reached the summit of its political development, it would 
possess the heart of the country between the Nile and the Euphrates, 
and the theocratical state would consequently assume an independent 
position, and equality of rank in a political aspect, between the 
kingdoms of the world in the east and in the west, represented by 
those two streams. This point was reached through David's victo- 
ries. If it had been the design of the theocracy that a political 
empire of the world should be established, the present period would 
have been precisely adapted to commence such an enterprise. David 
could have become an Alexander, and Jerusalem a Rome, ruling the 
world; all the circumstances were favorable, the means were at hand, 
and nothing further was needed except a conversion of the theo- 
cratical state into a conquering military power. The temptation to 
engage in this course presented itself to the human ambition of the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 189 

monarch who was at the helm of the state, and David yielded to it. 
The motive for causing a numbering of the people, without doubt, 
originated in these circumstances, and the severity of the divine 
punishment corresponded to the depth of that ungodly perverseness, 
from which this numbering proceeded. Levi and Benjamin (1 Chron. 
21 : 6) had not yet been counted when the plague began; the results, 
as far as they were obtained, showed that there were in Israel 
800,000 men that drew the sword, and in Judah 500,000 men. 
(2 Sam. 24 : 9.) 

§ 79. David's Significance in the Kingdom of God. 

The entire history of the Old Testament is highly significant, 
in consequence of its great office to prefigure Christ, to prophesy 
concerning him, and to continue the line which terminates in 
him ; all these features appear in the life of David. He is the 
ancestor of Christ, the blessing of the promise is expressly trans- 
ferred to his family, and henceforth the prophets describe Christ 
as a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch, and as David's 
son. He is also a type of Christ; his path conducts through suf- 
fering and humiliation to glory; he is made the king of the 
people of God; he subdues the heathen, &c. In consequence of 
this eminently typical character of his life, his inspired Psalms, 
whether they mourn and lament, or express thanks and praises, 
contain a mysterious prophetic meaning, and, transcending the 
bounds of the present time, enter into similar scenes occurring in 
the life of his antitype, who is his son and his Lord. He is, 
finally, the prophet of Christ; he revolves in his believing soul 
the promise which is already received, and through the illumi- 
nating influences of the Spirit of God, gives it a new develop- 
ment. (§ 84. 3.) 

§ 80. Solomon ascends the Throne. 

1 Kings 1-4. (2 Chron. 1.) — Nathan, the tutor of Solomon, 
discovers that Adonijah, a son of David, is conspiring with Joab 
and Abiathar, for the purpose of securing the throne for himself. 
David, accordingly, after a reign of forty years, causes Solomon, 
his son by Bathsheba, to be anointed by Zadok the priest, and 



190 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to be proclaimed king • he commits to his successor the task of 
inflicting the deserved punishments, which personal considerations 
had caused him to omit, on the murderer and rebel Joab, and on 
Shimei, who was guilty of high treason. After the death of 
David, Abijah engages in new plots, for which he is executed. 
Abiathar the priest is deprived of his office, Joab is executed at 
the altar where he had sought refuge, and Shimei, who had left 
the city of Jerusalem, contrary to his oath, and pursued two 
fugitive servants, is also put to death. Solomon, whom Nathan 
had already named Jedidiah (that is, beloved of the Lord, 2 Sam. 
12 : 25), beseeches the Lord, who appears to him in Gribeon, to 
give him an understanding heart, and the Lord promises him 
riches and honor also. He reigned from the year 1015 to 975 
before Christ. 

Obs. — Joab and Shimei had forfeited their lives, and it was a 
sacred duty of David to execute judgment in their case. His heart 
was painfully oppressed by the feeling that his own guilt had com- 
pelled him to neglect this duty ($ 77. 1, Obs., and 2, Obs.), and he 
could not die in peace (1 Kings 2 : 1, &c.) until he was assured that 
Solomon, whom such fatal considerations did not affect, would raise 
up justice from the defeat which it had sustained, and punish these 
criminals. 

§81. The Building of the Temple. 

1 Kings 5-8. (2 Chron. 2-7.) — In the fourth year of Solo- 
mon's reign, and the four hundred and eightieth year after the 
Exodus, Solomon begins to build the temple, and is occupied 
seven years in the work. His alliance with Hiram king of Tyre 
furnishes him with cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and with Tyrian 
builders; in return, he supplies Phenicia with grain. The con- 
struction of the temple requires the labors of a quarter of a 
million of men, who are at different times employed. — The 
building had two courts, of which one was appropriated to the 
people, and the other, or the inner court, to the priests. Within 
the latter stood the altar of burnt-offering and the brazen laver, 
or molten sea, intended for the ablutions of the priests; it was 
supported by the figures of twelve oxen made of brass, and its 
brim was wrought with flowers of lilies. The dimensions of the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 191 

house were twice the size of those adopted in the tabernacle ; the 
whole length was 60 cubits, the breadth 20 cubits, and the 
height also 20 cubits. The interior was lined with boards of 
cedar, the house was overlaid with gold, and a wall surrounded 
the whole. The upper chambers were 10 cubits high, on which 
account the height of the whole building is stated to have been 
30 cubits. The porch before the entrance of the temple was 10 
cubits in length and as many in breadth, and here were placed 
two massive pillars of brass, named Jachin (that is, he shall esta- 
blish, or, steadfastness) and Boaz (that is, in it is strength, or, 
strength). On the other three sides a building was erected three 
stories in height, which rose to two-thirds of the height of the 
house of the temple. The sanctuary, 40 cubits in length, con- 
tained the golden altar of incense, ten candlesticks of gold, and 
the table of gold whereon the shew-bread was set. The holiest 
of all was a cube of. 20 cubits ; it contained two cherubim made 
of the wood of the olive-tree, overlaid with gold, and 10 cubits in 
height, whose expanded wings touched in the middle, and, on 
the opposite sides, touched the walls. Beneath the two interior 
wings the original ark of the covenant was placed (§ 68. 2, Obs.), 
containing the two tables of the law, for Aaron's rod and the pot 
of manna had already disappeared (1 Kings, 8 : 9). When the 
temple was consecrated, the cloud filled the holy of holies, and 
the glory of the Lord filled the house. On that occasion Solomon 
pronounced a prayer which is a noble monument of his wisdom 
and knowledge of God. 

Obs. 1. — The Law had already repeatedly intimated that the Lord 
would choose a place in the holy land, in which his name should 
dwell. The Tabernacle was evidently a temporary place of wor- 
ship only, which is already indicated by the fact that it was a 
tent, and it was designed to serve merely during the wanderings 
of Israel. The Temple, contradistinguished from the Tabernacle, 
intimated that the kingdom of God in Israel, had now gained a 
firm foundation, and could proceed in assuming its proper torm, 
and continue its course of development. In other respects, no essen- 
tial changes occurred (g 45. 2, Obs.). The three-fold division of the 
holy structure, which constituted the peculiar nature of the kingdom 
of God, as it appeared in the times of the Old Testament, remains 
the same (§ 201. 2, Obs.). 



192 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. 2. — The Temple was builfc on mount Moriah Q 75. 3), agree, 
ably to the original consecration (§ 29. 2) and appointment ($ 78) of 
that spot. The area of the temple was a square, its length and 
breadth being each nine hundred feet ; the various buildings and 
courts belonging to the temple are here included. For the purpose 
of gaining the necessary space, massive walls, of which portions still 
remain, were raised from the Tyropoeon and the valley of the Kidron, 
and also on a very steep eminence named Ophel, and the space which 
they enclosed was filled up with earth. Solomon and his successors 
constructed galleries and porches or porticoes on the sides of the 
platform which was thus gained. The most magnificent of these was 
the king's porch, or Solomon's porch, which extended along the 
whole southern wall of the buildings of the temple, and to which a 
vast bridge resting on arches conducted, from the royal palace on 
Zion over the Tyropoeon. — The site of the temple is now occupied 
by the large mosque es-Sakharah, built by the caliph Omar. 

§ 82. Solomon's Glory and Fall, 

1 Kings 9-11 (2 Chron. 8, 9). — The Lord appeared to Solo- 
mon a second time, and spoke words of admonition and warning, 
of promise and threatening. — The king fortified Jerusalem, 
adorned it with splendid palaces, and built several strong frontier 
towns, such as Baalath or Baalbec in the north of Palestine, and 
Tadmor or Palmyra in Syria. All the surrounding nations paid 
him tribute. He himself and his court were distinguished for 
their uncommon magnificence. Trading vessels were sent from 
the ports of Eloth and Ezion-geber on the JElanitic Gulf to Ophir 
(probably in southern Arabia), and his navy of Tarshish (Tar- 
tessus in Spain) made a voyage once in three years in the Medi- 
terranean Sea. — The queen (Baalkis ?) of Sheba (the modern 
Yemen), in Arabia, visited him, and admired his wisdom and 
glory. If he was pre-eminent in wisdom, he was equally dis- 
tinguished by the brilliance and fertility of his poetic talents, for 
" he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thou- 
sand and five;" the extent of his knowledge, particularly in the 
department of Natural History, was equally remarkable, for " he 
spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto 
the hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he spake also of beasts, 
and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes" (1 Kings, 4 : 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 193 

32, 33). — Nevertheless, his many foreign wives at last led him 
astray. The prophet Ahijah rent a new garment in twelve 
pieces, ten of which he gave to Jeroboam, who escaped Solo- 
mon's attempts to kill him, and fled to Shishak (Sesonchis) king 
of Egypt. Solomon died after a reign of forty years. 

§ 83. The Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews. 

Among all nations, Poetry is a daughter of Religion; but 
while its attention, in the progress of time, appears to be fre- 
quently, and indeed, chiefly directed among other nations to the 
temporal interests of life, it remains, among the Hebrews, dedi- 
cated almost exclusively to the service of the exalted parent to 
which it owes its birth. For religion with them was both the 
basis of public, and the soul of domestic life. Its presence con- 
tinually depends on the presence of the revelations of God, and 
it appears as an echo of these, proceeding from the believing 
people. Poetic productions, furnished in moments of inspiration, 
are already found in the earliest historical records (§ 36. 4), and 
a still richer vein of Hebrew popular poetry is discovered in the 
Mosaic age, of which fragments are preserved in Num. ch. 21. 
But the eagle-flight of the poetic soul of Moses specially attracts 
our attention (Exodus, ch. 15 ; Deut. ch. 32 and 33). In the 
age of the Judges we meet with two females (Judges, ch. 5 ; and 
1 Sam. ch. 2), who are eminent for their theocratico-poetical en- 
dowments. A " book of the wars of Jehovah" had already been 
commenced in the age of Moses (Num. 21 : 14), of which the 
"book of Jasher" (Joshua, 10 : 13 ) 2 Sam. 1 : 18) was probably 
a continuation (§ 62. 2, Obs. 2) ; it may have been a book of 
popular poetry, containing hymns of praise commemorative of 
theocratical heroes. The age in which Hebrew poetry flourished 
in the highest degree, in which its peculiar character, its depth 
of religious sentiment and feeling, and its theocratical inspiration 
and fulness are developed in the most brilliant and noble forms 
(probably introduced by the schools of the prophets, § 70. 1, 
Obs.), coincides with the age of David and Solomon. David, the 
man after God's own heart, is distinguished, above all the men 
of God in the old covenant, by depth of thought, tenderness of 
17 



194 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

feeling, warmth and strength of character, and approved theo- 
cratical piety, combined with the most varied experience, and the 
consciousness of his significant position, even in reference to fu- 
ture ages, in the development of the kingdom of God — and it is 
he also who excels all his cotemporaries in poetic endowments 
, and who advanced psalmodic poetry to a degree of excellence 
which none could transcend. Other psalmists, richly endowed 
and moved by the Spirit of God, are incited by his example to 
furnish similar compositions, among whom Asaph and the sons 
of Korah are particularly distinguished. David's son, Solomon, 
inherited his poetical gifts, and excelled him in the variety of his 
poetical compositions. Of his 1005 songs, only two psalms, the 
seventy-second, and the one hundred and twenty-seventh, to- 
gether with the Song of songs, remain ; but we still have a rich 
treasure, derived from his 3000 proverbs, and collected in the 
book of Proverbs which bears his name. While he may be re- 
garded as inferior to his father in Lyric poetry, he brought Pro- 
verbial or Gnomic poetry to such perfection, that all previous com- 
positions of that kind were completely thrown into the shade, and 
he may be considered as the creator of this species of poetry. 
The age of Solomon also furnished in the book of Job the most 
perfect specimen of didactic poetry, with respect both to form and 
contents (§ 87), which we possess. 

Obs. 1. — The different species of Hebrew Poetry. — The Hebrews 
were entirely unacquainted with Epic and Dramatic poetry ; neither 
of these species could come forth or thrive in the theocratical soil. 
Epic poetry claims by its very nature the right to re-cast events that 
have occurred, and adapt them to the purposes of the art by the un- 
constrained and creative action of the imagination — such a course 
the theocratic poet could not possibly feel authorized to adopt. Epic 
poetry, besides, requires an ample and fully developed mythological 
system, such as the Hebrews did not possess ; it designs to glorify 
human greatness, while the predominating and fundamental thought 
of the theocratic consciousness is thus expressed : " Not unto us, Q 
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory I" (Ps. 115 : 1 ; see 
Judges, 7 : 2, and \ 61. 1, Obs. 2.) The history of Israel is indeed 
rich in the great deeds of God, but poor in great deeds of earthly 
heroes. The heroes of the old covenant were heroes in faith, in obe- 
dience, in humility ; they were strong only by the power of God, and 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 195 

glorious only as instruments in the hands of the Lord. — Still less 
favorable were the circumstances of the Hebrews to the rise of the 
Drama, for not only did they not possess epic poetry, the existence 
of which it assumes as a necessary condition of its own appearance, 
but they were, moreover, entirely strangers to those feasts of Bacchus, 
and popular festivals and games, which promoted the rise and cul- 
tivation of this species of poetry among the Greeks, to whom exclu- 
sively the origin of the drama is to be ascribed. Hebrew poetry, on 
the contrary, could receive its materials or subjects from the same 
source alone from which it derived its origin and successive im- 
pulses, — from the region of divine revelation. While the poet was 
absorbed by these communications, " he could only, on the one 
hand, give language to the impressions which they made on his 
heart and mind, in the lyric form of religious feeling, or, on the 
other, adapt these impressions to the varied relations, conditions and 
problems of life on earth, for the purpose of conveying instruction to 
others, extending religious knowledge, and inculcating those moral 
duties which the Law prescribed. In this manner two kinds of 
poetry were formed, the Lyric and the Didactic." To the former 
belong the Psalms, the Song of Solomon, and the Lamentations ; to 
the latter, Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. Easy transitions, how- 
ever, from one to the other of these two kinds, occur in several of the 
above-named poetic compositions, particularly in many of the Psalms, 
and in the book of Job. Prophetic Poetry, which is the recipient of 
divine revelations, and the medium through which they are commu- 
nicated, is essentially didactic in its nature, but it, nevertheless, fre- 
quently bears a lyric character, and becomes sublime. 

Obs. 2. — The Form of Poetic Compositions among the Hebrews. — 
It is essential to poetry that it should appear in the form of verse. 
The Hebrews did not, however, employ measures, rhythm, or rhyme 
for this purpose, but adopted in their poetic compositions a form or 
style peculiarly their own, denominated Parallelism ; a complete verse, 
constructed in this form, consists of two members so strictly con- 
formed to each other, that almost every word of the one corresponds 
to a kindred word of the other. These parallel members either con- 
tain the same sentiment, merely expressed in different terms, as, for 
instance, Ps. 19 : 1, or they are antithetic, involving an opposition 
of terms and sentiments, as in Prov. 10 : 1 or 7, or they contain a 
sentiment and an image of it, as in Prov. 27 : 3, or they are grada- 
tional, as Ps. 1 : 1, &c. When the resources of Hebrew poetry were 
more fully developed, the employment of this parallelism was marked 
both by greater freedom and variety, and also by greater precision 



196 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

and compactness. — In addition to this form of verse, many poetic 
productions in the Old Testament are presented as stanzas ; those in 
which the stanzaic character appears, as in many of the Psalms, 
were unquestionably prepared in reference to a musical accom- 
paniment. 

§ 84. The Psalms. 

1. The richest and most brilliant gems of sacred Lyric poetry 
which we possess, are found in the Book of Psalms. It was not 
till the age of David and Solomon had arrived, that the highest 
order of poetic talent was developed, and the most varied and 
perfect psalmodical compositions were furnished. Of the sacred 
songs belonging to an earlier period, only one, the " Prayer of 
Moses" or Ps. 90, is contained in the Psalter. Seventy-three of 
the Psalms are assigned by their titles to David, who is un- 
equalled as a psalmist. Others who became eminent after him, 
and who proceeded from the schools of singers which he esta- 
blished, are, chiefly : Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and the sons of 
Korah. Only two psalms bear the name of Solomon (§ 83). 
To the decline of religious life after the division of the kingdom, 
may be ascribed the small number (about nine), of such poems 
composed after that event, for the inspired men who then ap- 
peared, employed almost exclusively the language of prophecy. 
Psalmodical poetry, however, received a new impulse during the 
period of the Babylonian captivity, including the time which im- 
mediately preceded and followed it, since the number of Psalms 
belonging to it amounts to forty-six. The last momentous occa- 
sion which encouraged the people to sing a new song unto the 
Lord, namely the completion of the walls of Jerusalem under 
Nehemiah, constituted the era after which the voices both of the 
psalmodic poet and of the prophet ceased to be heard. 

Obs. — Many of the Psalms are furnished with inscriptions, of 
which some name the respective authors, and occasionally indicate 
the historical circumstances that suggested the composition of them, 
while others contain intimations respecting the musical accompani- 
ment ; to the latter the unintelligible inscriptions of the following 
psalms specially belong : Ps. 9 ; 22 ; 45 ; 56 ; 60 ; 75 ; 80. ^ No im- 
perative necessity exists for doubting the genuineness or reliableness 
of the inscriptions. The word Selah, which frequently occurs in the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 197 

Psalms, is undoubtedly a musical term. Many consider it to be 
equivalent to the word pause, and the Greek version renders it by 
Swi^atyia, interlude. According to the most probable conjecture, this 
word indicated the time when the notes of the trumpets of the priests 
should begin to accompany the vocal music of the singers of the 
psalms, and the music of the stringed instruments on which the Le- 
vites performed. This conjecture derives strong confirmation from 
the circumstance that the word Selah occurs in those passages alone, 
in which the poet gives utterance to the deepest feelings of the heart, 
expresses the liveliest hopes and desires, or pours out the most 
mournful complaints ; compare Num. 10 : 10 ; 1 Chron. 16 : 4-7, and 
37-42. — The Psalms may be classified according to their subjects, 
for they consist of hymns of praise and thanksgiving, hymns of com- 
plaints (penitential), and didactic hymns. Ps. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 
130 and 143, are the Penitential Psalms. — The entire number of the 
Psalms, consisting of 150, is divided, like the writings of the Law, 
into five books. The first three books, extending to the end of the 
eighty-ninth psalm, consist, principally, of those which were com- 
posed by David and his school of singers ; the last two contain pro- 
ductions of the same authors, which had been omitted in the former, 
and also those which belong to a later period. Fifteen of the psalms, 
from Ps. 120 to Ps. 134, bear the title of "Pilgrimage songs" (can- 
ticum graduum, English version — Songs of degrees), which indicates 
that they were intended for the regular festival journeys of the people 
to the temple in Jerusalem. — Several of the psalms are ascribed to 
an Asaph, who was probably a great-grandson of the eminent singer 
known by the same name. 

2. The inestimable value which the Psalms possess, they owe 
to the circumstance that they reveal the power and depth of the 
spiritual life of believers under the old covenant, and thus open 
to us an inexhaustible source of consolation and admonition, of 
encouragement and strength, suited to our own spiritual life. 
For the inner life of the men of God who composed them, is so 
varied and so abundant in experience, temptation and consolation, 
and their views of their own life and of the dealings of God with 
believers are derived from the Spirit of God with such clearness, 
that their representations of themselves, of the world and of God, 
have become a type and mirror adapted to all times, to all cir- 
cumstances, and to all conditions of men. Luther could indeed, 
with perfect justice, remark concerning the Psalms : " Thou 
17- 



198 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

readest through them the hearts of all the saints; and hence the 
Psalter is the manual of all the saints, for each finds in it, in 
whatever circumstances he is placed, psalms and words so well 
adapted to his condition, and so fully according with his feelings, 
that they seem to have been thus composed for his own sake, 
insomuch that he cannot find, or even wish to. find, any words 
that are better suited to his case." The Psalms are, however, 
pre-eminently adapted to the immediate wants of those who are 
receiving instruction in the school of affliction. 

f Obs. — In reference to the Imprecatory psalms, as they have been 
termed (such as Ps. 35; 52; 58; 59; 109; 137), in which the de- 
sire is sometimes expressed, that the vengeance of God might destroy 
in the most awful manner, the enemies of the kingdom of God and 
of individual representatives of it, the following considerations claim 
attention. 1. In the New Testament also similar expressions occur 
(2 Tim. 4 : 14; Acts 8 : 20 ; 23 : 3 ; Rev. 6 : 10 ; Matt. 11 : 20, &c. ; 
23 : 13, &c). — 2. The vengeance which God takes on hardened and 
impious men is necessary, for divine justice demands it, and is salu- 
tary, for it leads to the victory and perfect establishment of the king- 
dom of God (Heb. 10 : 27, 31 ; 12 : 29 ; Rom. 2:5; Matt. 25 : 41, 
&c). — 3. Hence, any dissatisfaction in reference to this ven- 
geance, is really dissatisfaction in reference to the being and will 
of God, and criminal indifference towards the kingdom of God. — 
4. The desire to see God take vengeance on any one, deserves our 
reprobation, in the following cases only : When it arises in an indi- 
vidual, not in consequence of an outrage offered to the honor of God, 
but of a personal injury inflicted on himself; or, when the progress 
of the kingdom of God is not its sole aim, but when self-interest has 
also tended to produce it ; or, when love, ardently desiring the sal- 
vation of all men, is wanting ; or, finally, when it does not refer ex- 
clusively to those, whose case is hopeless, and for whom the apostle 
does not say that we should pray (1 John 5 : 16). — 5. Nearly all of the 
imprecatory psalms were furnished by David ; but, that he was not 
governed by unworthy and revengeful feelings, is demonstrated by 
his conduct towards Saul (1 Sam. 24 : 26), Shimei (2 Sam. 16 : 10,) 
&c. ; and that any sudden impulse to seek revenge was promptly 
subdued in him, even by a gentle appeal to his conscience, is seen in 
the case of Nabal (1 Sam. 25 : 13, 24, 32, &c). Such feelings of re- 
venge could, least of all, have existed in his soul during those most 
solemn seasons, in which he composed his psalms by divine inspira- 
tion ; such vindictive feelings are, indeed, condemned in the most 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 199 

emphatic manner, in other psalms, as for instance, Ps. 7 : 4, 5 (with 
which his lamentation over Saul deserves to be compared, 2 Sam. 1 : 
19, &c.) ; and in many passages of the Old Testament elsewhere, 
similar expressions, condemning revenge, occur, as, Job 31 : 29 ; 
Prov. 20 : 22 ; 24 : 17, 18, 29 ; 25 : 21. With these may be compared 
the positive prohibition of revenge, and the command to show kind- 
ness to an enemy, which the Law already contains (Exodus 23 : 4, 
5; Lev. 19 : 18). — 6. In nearly all of the imprecatory psalms, the 
imprecation does not refer to particular personal enemies, but to the 
enemies of God and of his people in general ; it is not aimed at hos- 
tile persons concretely, but, abstractly, at those who entertain hostile 
sentiments ; it is directed against the sin, not the sinner, against the 
crime, not the criminal. — 7. It is, generally, not the poet himself, 
whose injuries and persecutions demand revenge, but the ideal per- 
son of the righteous man who suffers — the ideal portraiture, of 
which the most perfect view is given, in Ps. 22, and Isaiah ch. 53, 
and which appeared in real life in Christ. — 8. Nevertheless, the cir- 
cumstance should not be overlooked, that these psalms belong to the 
old covenant, which is still defective and not designed to be a per- 
manent model (see Luke 9 : 54, &c, and g 94. 2, Obs. 2). — 9. On the 
other hand, they contain a very salutary antidote against the religious 
sentimentality and feebleness of the present times, against the pre- 
vailing lax views of sin and holiness, &c. 

3. With all their excellencies, the Psalms, like the Old Testa- 
ment in general, furnish only incomplete views of the divine plan 
of salvation. Their doctrines and ethics are founded on the reve- 
lations given in the Pentateuch, and afterwards more fully de- 
veloped in history and prophecy. They certainly indicate a pro- 
gress in knowledge ; but this progress consists, not in the addi- 
tion of new matter derived from revelation, but in a further 
development, and in deeper and clearer views of the matter 
already given, as the Messianic psalms, in particular, plainly 
show. The representations which these contain do not, in fact, 
give additional extent to the fundamental promises in Gen. 12 : 
3 (§ 24. 1, Obs. 2), and in 2 Sam. 7 : 12-16 (§ 76). The poet 
does not, like the prophets, furnish new words and revelations of 
God, but testimony respecting the views which his own mind, 
enlightened by the Spirit of God, has taken of the promises 
hitherto made ; the result is, that these promises are now placed 
in a new light, and acquire greater distinctness and expansion. 



200 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Some of the Psalms are directly Messianic (prophetical), the 
believing and divinely-inspired mind intentionally begins with the 
theme furnished by the words and promise in 2 Sam. ch. 7, and 
ponders and develops it; besides these, we meet with psalms 
which are typically Messianic ; in these, the sacred poet refers 
to the present experience, circumstances, feelings and hopes of 
himself or of others : but, entertaining a view or a presentiment 
of the significance and importance of all these in regard to the 
development of the kingdom of God, and, impelled by the Spirit 
of prophecy, he portrays, more or less consciously, the future 
Messiah, in whom all these circumstances will be manifested in 
their archetypal and complete form. The line of demarkation 
between these two kinds of psalms, is not, however, always dis- 
tinctly drawn, since the typical and the direct prophetical mate- 
rials frequently coalesce. 

Obs. — Of the prophetical Messianic psalms, all of which are 
founded on 2 Sam. ch. 7, the following are the most important. Ps. 2 
presents the vast scene in which the Son of David appears as the 
Redeemer and the Judge ; " Thou art my Son ; this day have I be- 
gotten thee" (v. 7). " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish 
from the way" (v. 12). — Ps. 110 describes the eternal kingdom and 
priesthood of the Messiah; " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou 
at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The 
Lord shall send the rod (sceptre) of thy strength out of Zion : rule 
thou in the midst of thine enemies" (v. 1, 2). " The Lord hath 
sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the 
order of Melchizedek" (v. 4). — Ps. 72 describes the Messiah as the 
Prince of peace, prefigured by Solomon whose reign is peaceful ; this 
psalm is already found on the boundary between the prophetic and 
typical psalms. — Ps. 45 is in the same position; it is a song of 
praise for the wedding-day of a king unto whom no one is like. It 
may have been composed on the occasion of the marriage of Solo- 
mon ; the whole description, however, is so lofty and significant, that 
we are compelled to admit that the poet consciously and designedly 
looked beyond the present imperfect and prefigurative occasion, and 
intended to describe the marriage of the future Son of David, of Mes- 
siah the " King," and the " King's daughter," or, Israel with the 
" virgins her companions that follow her," that is, the heathen na- 
tions (v. 13, 14). " Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace 
is poured into thy lips : therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 201 

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, most Mighty, with thy glory and 
thy majesty" (v. 2, 3). "Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever: 
the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteous- 
ness, and hatest wickedness : therefore God, thy God hath anointed 
thee with the oil of gladness" (v. 6, 7). — Among the typical Mes- 
sianic psalms, Ps. 22 is the most remarkable. David, the poet, is 
meditating upon his own sufferings, and the blessed fruits which 
they produced for him and for the kingdom of God ; he is then im- 
pelled by the Spirit of God which animates him, to describe other 
sufferings, infinitely higher, far more significant and more blessed 
than his own. He was, unquestionably, guided by the presentiment 
that the path of sufferings which conducted him to glory, would also 
conduct the promised eternal heir of his throne to glory, and, fur- 
ther, that even as the glory of the latter would be incomparably 
higher than his own, so too the sufferings of the latter would be in- 
comparably deeper and more intense. " My God, my God, why hast 
thou forsaken me ?" (v. 1). "I am a worm, and no man ; a reproach 
of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me 
to scorn : they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He 
trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, 
seeing he delighted in him" (v. 6-8). "I may tell all my bones: 
they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, 
and cast lots upon my vesture" (v. 17, 18). "I will declare thy 
name unto my brethren : in the midst of the congregation will I 
praise thee" (v. 22). " All the ends of the world shall remember 
and turn unto the Lord ; and all the kindreds of the nations shall 
worship before thee" (v. 27).* Compare Isaiah ch. 53, in which 
passage the views, which first meet us here, are fully expanded. 

§ 85. The Book of Proverbs. 

The collection of Scriptural proverbs transmitted to us, and 
called "the Proverbs of Solomon" (Proverbia, rfapo^W), contains 
about 500 short and expressive sayings (maxims, gnomes, Heb. 
mashal), in the form of poetry, — " apples of gold in pictures of 

* Objections which are not without weight have been made to the pas- 
sage in v. 16, as it stands in Luther's [German, and in the authorized 
English] version, viz. "They pierced my hands and my feet." The 
following has been proposed as, probably, a more accurate version : 
"Dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed 
me, as the lion my hands and my feet." 



202 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

silver/' (cli. 25 : 11. It is inappropriate to term them merely 
Proverhs, as they are by no means national or popular sayings, to 
which popular wit or prevailing opinions may have incidentally 
given birth^ the latter often express thoughts which are remark- 
ably deep or pointed, it is true, but they as often present nothing 
but the unsanctified and crude moral principles and the worldly 
wisdom of popular life. "We find in those before us, on the 
contrary, the aphorisms of particular sages, who set forth funda- 
mental principles on which the true wisdom of life is established, 
and which are adapted to promote the moral and religious culture 
of the people. Other nations also have possessed poets who 
adopted the sententious style, but the essential difference between 
them and the Hebrew sages, is found in the circumstance that 
the latter derive their views primarily from an objective divine 
revelation, the truths of which they apply to the various relations 
and circumstances of life; and, further, that their own deep 
meditations, and the influence of the same Spirit from which 
that revelation itself proceeded, ultimately furnish truly sanctified 
precepts of wisdom suited to the purposes of life. If David is 
the first and most successful writer of psalmodical poetry, Solo- 
mon is, on the other hand, the first and most successful writer of 
proverbial poetry, and by far the largest portion of the remains 
of this style of composition which we possess, is undoubtedly 
furnished by him. 

Obs. — The book of Proverbs consists, as the different titles indi- 
cate, of several independent collections. The first nine chapters 
constitute a complete whole, of a general character, chiefly occupied 
with the praise of wisdom. With the tenth chapter, another collec- 
tion commences, entitled "The proverbs of Solomon." The third, 
contained in ch. 25-29, commences with the words : " These are 
also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Ju- 
dah, copied out." These collections, accordingly, contain no proverbs 
except those of Solomon, and were formed at different periods. The 
proverbs of another sage, named Agur, are given in the thirtieth 
chapter ; the next chapter begins with " the words of king Lemuel, 
the prophecy that his mother taught him," and concludes, v. 10-31, 
with an alphabetical poem, containing the praises of a virtuous wo- 
man. (Lemuel is an assumed name, equivalent to devoted to God. 
Agur may have also written this concluding chapter.) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 203 

§ 86. The Song of Solomon, or Canticles. 

This uncommonly beautiful, tender and truly poetical compo- 
sition bears the title of " The Song of songs, which is Solcmon's/' 
that is, the most beautiful of all his songs. It owes its name not 
only to its great poetical excellence, but also, in a pre-eminent 
degree, to the depth and manifold applicability of the sentiments 
which it contains. It is the lyric out-pouring of two loving 
hearts — of king Solomon, and of an engaging shepherdess, 
named Shulamith, and presents an ideal of indescribably tender, 
pure, ethereal, and nevertheless, of ardent love. The whole 
bearing of the poem, its admission into the number of the sacred 
writings of the old covenant, and the analogy found between its 
sentiments and forms of expression and those occurring in other 
portions of the Old Testament, establish the following conclu- 
sions : that, according to the intention of the writer, and agree- 
ably to the unanimous declarations of the ancient Hebrews, this 
book does not consist of an erotic poem of an ordinary kind, but, 
on the contrary, presents a scene of earthly but pure love, as an 
image of the relation subsisting between the Lord and his 
Church, as his bride. (Hosea 2 : 19, 20.) In accordance with 
the lyric character of the poem, we are at once introduced into 
the midst of the history of the development of this divine love. 
Hence, the various alienations and approximations or varying 
phases of tender love, leading ultimately to a perfect union, are 
here described, not in the form of a history regularly completed 
according to the succession of events, but in a selection of par- 
ticular scenes of special significance. Solomon, the beloved, the 
chiefest among ten thousand, is the Lord; the Bride, whose name 
is derived from his own (Shu7amith, from Solomon, Hebrew 
form, Shelomoh), is not, primarily, the individual soul, but the 
Church or congregation of the Lord, and the Song is only in so 
far applicable to the former, as the individual soul, like a mirror, 
reflects the image of the whole Church. 

Obs. — The considerations which justify, and, indeed, imperatively 
demand an allegorical interpretation of this poem, are, principally, 
the following: — (1.) The native soil of all the poetic compositions 



204 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

of the Hebrews, is religion, namely, the theocracy. (2.) Bridal and 
nuptial terms, intended to describe the relation of the Lord to his 
Church, continually occur in the Old and New Testaments, some- 
times employed in an indefinite manner, and sometimes with full 
details. (See, for instance, Jer. 2:2; Hos. 2 : 19, 20 ; Isa. 54 : 5 ; 
62 : 4, 5 ; Ezek. 16 : 8-14 ; John 3 : 29 ; Matt. 9 : 15 ; 2 Cor. 11 : 2 ; 
Eph. 5 : 25-27 ; Rev. 19 : 7 ; 21 : 2 ; 22 : 17, &c.) (3.) A direct and 
literal application of the details, in the interpretation of the poem, 
cannot be sustained. The images which are employed, would often 
be very inappropriate and awkward (as 6 : 4; 8: 5, &c), unless 
another ideal existed in the recesses of the soul of the poet, to which 
they are better suited ; easy transitions from the sign to the thing 
signified, often occur, &c. (4.) This poem was regarded in the ear- 
liest times already, and, in particular, by those who fixed the Canon, 
as an allegory, &c. — The forty-fifth psalm is analogous to it. 

§ 87. The Booh of Job. 

The book of Job is occupied in solving a problem which 
deeply interested the theocratical mind : it investigates the rela- 
tion or connection between the afflictions of the righteous and the 
justice of God. As a poetic composition, it claims the highest 
rank. The topics which it selects, and which it illustrates as fully 
as that era of revelation admitted, are the following : the con- 
nection between sin and misery ; the nature of divine retribution, 
and the divine mode of educating man ; the necessity of adopt- 
ing, in the kingdom of God, the fundamental law, that the path 
to greatness and glory should always lead through humiliation 
and affliction as a preparatory discipline. It also gives promi- 
nence to the problem of the righteous man who suffers affliction, 
of which both the complete sketch and the solution are propheti- 
cally exhibited in Ps. 22 and Isa. ch. 53, and the actual solution 
of which, on Golgotha, brought salvation to the whole human 
race. — The poet employs, as the foundation of the whole work, 
the ancient tradition of the accumulated misfortunes of a devout 
nomadic prince, named Job (see Ezek. 14 : 14, 20, in which 
chapter Job, Noah and Daniel, are extolled as models of human 
righteousness). The book consists of three parts : the prologue 
(ch. 1, 2); the dialogue (ch. 3-41); and the epilogue (ch. 42). 
The prologue and epilogue are written in prose, the former fur- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 205 

nishing an introduction of the whole, and the latter relating the 
issue. The remaining portion, constituting the body of the work, 
is written in poetry, in the form of a dialogue; the main subject 
is first viewed in the light of reason, and then decided by the 
interposition and words of the Lord. — The composition of the 
book, in point of time, has been assigned by many to the age of 
Moses, or to one still earlier, and some have even designated 
Moses himself as the author. These views are confirmed, as it 
has been alleged, by the patriarchal aspect of the persons and 
circumstances described in the book, and by the absence of any 
reference to the Law and the theocracy. The great abilities of 
the poet, however, who was able to reproduce the language and 
circumstances of that early age with entire success, easily account 
for these features. On the other hand, the language and style, 
the great intelligence and highly cultivated mind of the author, 
his acquaintance with other countries, the highly developed 
form of the poetry, the design and tendency of the matter, &c, 
conclusively show, that the poem belongs to the most flourishing 
period of the Hebrew state, with respect to public affairs, popular 
life, and the state of the arts and sciences, and that it was, con- 
sequently, composed during the age of Solomon. 

Obs. 1. — The contents of the poem are the following: Job, a no- 
madic prince in the land of Uz (north-east of the mountains of 
Edom), is wealthy, enjoys the blessing of the Lord, and is highly 
esteemed by men. Satan, the accuser (Rev. 12 : 10), endeavors to 
render his uprightness suspicious in the eyes of God. The Lord de- 
signs to convince the accuser that, in this case also, his plans will fail ; 
he likewise intends to prove Job, and cleanse his heart, in which a 
refined self-love, together with self-righteousness and self-confidence 
still dwelt, sustained by a course of prosperity. He consequently 
permits the accuser to take the lives of Job's sons and daughters, 
and to destroy all his possessions. After messengers of evil tidings 
had appeared in rapid succession, Job, nevertheless, said: "The 
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of 
the Lord." Satan now obtains permission to touch Job's person, 
but not to destroy his life. The terrible disease termed elephantiasis 
(the most horrible species of the leprosy), covered Job's body with 
sore boils from the sole of his foot unto the crown of his head ; even 
his wife mocks him on account of his integrity, and tells him to re- 
18 



206 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

nounce God. But he says : " Shall we receive good at the hand cf 
God, and shall we not receive evil V 9 In all this did not Job sin 
with his lips. Three friends visit him, named Eliphaz, Bildad and 
Zophar ; they had intended to speak words of comfort, but when 
they approach and see his utter wretchedness, they are speechless. 
After seven days of painful silence, Job opens his mouth and curses 
the day of his birth. His friends feel impelled to contradict him ; 
they desire to justify God, and proceed to accuse Job of secret sins 
and base hypocrisy. Job is conscious that sncli accusations are un- 
just, and, provoked by the injudicious zeal of his friends, he even 
begins to contend with God. Thus his secret self-love and self-right- 
eousness, which are to be overcome, are plainly revealed ; neverthe- 
less, his trust in God and his righteousness still predominate. On 
more than one occasion a gleam of truth irradiates his soul, and 
conducts him nearer to the true solution of the problem. His friends 
are at length silenced, and he remains the last speaker. Another 
interlocutor, named Elihu, now comes forward (ch. 32), whom the 
reverence due to age had hitherto restrained, but whom the impetu- 
osity of youth no longer allowed to suppress his own clearer views. 
His wrath was kindled against the three friends, on account of their 
unskilful defence of God, and their unjust condemnation of Job, and 
also against Job, who declared himself to be pure and guiltless in 
the presence of God. The leading principle developed in his argu- 
mentation, which essentially furnishes a solution of the problem, as 
far as man is able to fathom it, is the following: that the afflictions 
of the righteous are not necessarily or absolutely an indication of 
divine wrath, but much rather of his chastening, disciplinary and 
purifying grace, and are designed to convince them of subtile and 
deeply-hidden sins, and to heal them. Job is silent, for he is already 
subdued by human wisdom. At the conclusion of the address of 
Elihu, the Lord himself appears in a whirlwind, and completes the 
work of humbling Job, who had attempted to contend with God. 
" Gird up now thy loins like a man ;" he says, "for I will demand 
of thee, and answer thou me." And his questions, which refer only 
to the most obvious of his ways and wonders in nature, nevertheless 
put all human wisdom to shame. With how much less propriety 
may that wisdom presume to judge the wonderful ways of his jus- 
tice and grace among men ! Job repents and condemns himself alone. 
The Lord rebukes the folly of the three friends, acquits Job of the 
charges which they had made against him, and restores to him two- 
fold all that he had lost. 

Obs. 2. — The book of Job is not an ordinary theodicy, intended 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 207 

to justify God in reference to the existence in this world of the 
misery and the evils, which often oppress the righteous, while the 
wicked appear to be spared. It rather ascribes these to the creature 
in heaven and on earth, and suppresses the whole question, as far as 
idle curiosity asks for an answer, by furnishing the evidence of the 
short-sightedness of man. The three friends devise a theodicy which 
puts them to shame in the end. Diseases, death and misery, entered 
the world by sin ; all men are sinners, and even the most righteous 
among them cannot complain, although accumulated temporal afflic- 
tions may overwhelm them, for they have deserved still more severe 
chastisements. The error of Job's friends consisted in the inference 
which they drew, that he was a greater sinner than other men, be- 
cause he suffered afflictions which were unusually severe. Their sin 
consisted in their belief that, in comparison with Job, they were 
pure themselves, because they were exempted from similar calami- 
ties, while in truth, they were, like all men, worthy of the same 
curse. Affliction is the punishment and curse of unbelief, but is 
the chastisement and the blessing appropriated to faith, and, in the 
hands of God, the means of disciplining and purifying the soul. 



SIXTH PERIOD. 

FROM THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE CESSATION OF 

PROPHECY. 

(A period of about 600 years.) 

§ 88. Characteristic Features of this Period, 

1. In consequence of David's victories, the theocratic state had 
attained trie whole extent which God had originally assigned to 
it. It did not maintain its lofty position ; the faults which the 
kings and the people committed, caused it henceforth to approach 
its dissolution. The latter portion of the reign of Solomon already 
contained all the germs of the subsequent decay and ruin. His 
kingdom was divided, and the two independent kingdoms which 
succeeded, assumed a hostile attitude towards each other; alliances 
and wars with other nations, both equally ungodly, then followed; 
and, above all, the tendency to renounce Jehovah and to establish 
worship in high places, the worship of calves, and the worship of 
nature, continually gained strength. The inward vigor of the 



208 KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

state was necessarily impaired by the operation of these causes, 
and the divine judgment, which was long delayed, but which was 
unerring and sure, ultimately overwhelmed the state and aban- 
doned it as a prey to the heathen. Numerous prophets, full of 
courage and holy zeal, endeavored to counteract the untheocratic 
degeneracy of the kings and the people, but their labors produced 
no permanent results (§ 99). 

Obs. — The worship offered in high places (as the worship of Je- 
hovah) was a wilful and untheocratic renewal of the patriarchal 
forms. These were appropriate in the earliest ages, for the eleva- 
tion, hill or high place, is an altar of nature ; but in this more ad- 
vanced period, when the kingdom of God had been already further 
developed, such worship was a sinful opposition to the divinely- 
appointed worship at the tabernacle, and the temple. This worship 
in high places possibly received a new impulse after David's days, 
originating in a spirit of hostility towards the temple of Solomon. 
It appears, however, in a less unfavorable aspect in the kingdom of 
Israel than in the kingdom of Judah. In the former, it might be 
regarded with indulgence and even approbation, since the interest 
of the people in the temple had been politically destroyed. Israel 
was, indeed, brought back, by the violent measures of Jeroboam, to 
the original position of the patriarchs with respect to the public wor- 
ship of God ; eminent prophets, accordingly, in the kingdom of 
Israel, like Elijah and Elisha, worshipped in high places. — The wor- 
ship of calves, which had once been seen in the wilderness, but which 
was suppressed by the vigorous measures of Moses, was designed to 
be a worship of Jehovah, but assumed a form allied to the Egyptian 
mode of adoring animals ; its ungodly character appears in its trans- 
gression of the commandment: " Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image, or any likeness, &c." (Exodus 20 : 4.) — For the wor- 
ship of nature, see § 64. 2, Obs. 1. 

2. The worship peculiar to the Old Testament appeared in its 
most perfect form, when the Temple was completed. But Pro- 
phecy now passes beyond the sphere of this worship, and indi- 
cates that the present particular and symbolic form of the king- 
dom of God will necessarily undergo a change and become a 
universal form, presenting the reality announced by any previous 
symbol ; thus Prophecy leads by preparatory steps to the disso- 
lution of the form of the Old Testament worship, and to the ful- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



209 



filment of its (typical) contents. Although Prophecy had hitherto 
been characterized merely by zeal for the Law and its worship, 
and seemed to be simply the successor of Moses in the order of 
time, it began, in this period, to pass beyond the boundaries which 
Moses had reached, and enlarged and developed the work which 
he had commenced ; it now appears, consequently, rather as the 
harbinger of Christ, who fulfilled all that was old, made it new, 
and completed a work that endures forever. In this manner the 
conception of the Messiah became fully distinct, and acquired a 
complete form. Prophecy continually furnished new views of the 
image of the promised Son of David, and the more gloomy the 
scene became which the times exhibited, the more earnestly did 
faith look forward to the future fulfilment of the Law and 
Prophecy. 

Obs. — The following list of the kings of Judah and Israel may 
serve to give additional distinctness to the history of this period, in 
its chronological and synchronal aspects. The years indicate the 
commencement of the reign of each of the kings. 



Kingdom of 
Judah. 


Year 
before 
Christ 


1. Rehoboam, 

2. Abijah (Abi- 

jam), 

3. Asa, 


975 
957 

955 
954 
952 
930 
929 
929 
918 
914 
897 
896 

889 
884 
883 
877 

856 
840 

838 
824 











4. Jelwsh.aphat, 


5. Jehoram, 

6. Ahaziah, 

7. (Athaliah), 

8. Joash (Jeho- 

ash), 


9. Amaziah, 





Kingdom of 
Israel. 



1. Jeroboam, 



2. Nadab, 

3. Baasha, 

4. Elah, 

5. Zimri, 

6. Omri, 

7. Ahab, 



8. Ahaziah, 

9. Jehoram (Jo- 

ram), 



10. Jehu, 



11. Jehoahaz, 

12. Jehoash (Jo- 

ash), 



13. Jeroboam II. 



Kingdom of 
Judah. 


Year 
before 
Christ 


10, Uzziah (Aza- 
riah), 


810 

783 
772 
771 
771 
760 
759 
758 
742 
739 
730 
727 
722 

696 
641 
639 
609 
608 
599 
598 

588 










11. Jotlxam, 

12. Ahaz, 




13. Ilezeldah, 


14. Manasseh, 

15. Amon, 

16. Josiah, 

17. Jehoahaz, 

18. Jehoiakim, 

19. Jehoiachin, 

20. Zedekiah, 
Overthrow of 

the kingdom, 



Kingdom of 
Israel. 



Anarchy, 

14. Zachariah, 

15. Shallum, 

16. Menahem, 

17. Pekahiah, 

18. Pekah, 



Anarchy, 
19. Hoshea, 



Overthrow of 
the kingdom. 



The memory may be assisted by attention to the following chrono- 
logical points : Division of the kingdom, 975 years before Christ ; — 
18* 



210 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Jehosaphat and Ahab, about 900 ;— Jehu and Athaliah, about 888; — 
Jeroboam II. and Uzziah (and those prophets whose writings still 
remain as witnesses of their labors) about 800 ; — Hezekiah, and the 
overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, 722 ; overthrow of the kingdom 
of Judah, 588. — In the column of the kings of Judah, the names of 
those who entertained theocratical sentiments, are printed in Italic 
letters ; in the column of the kings of Israel, the names of those with 
whom the successive Israelitish dynasties began, are similarly dis- 
tinguished. 

§ 89. Connection of the History of Israel and of the Cotempo- 
raneous Pagan Kingdoms. 

1. The history of the children of Israel begins to assume a 
new character; their connection with heathen nations acquires 
greater prominence, and becomes more ominous, than at any 
former period. The efforts of the pagan monarchies to gain uni- 
versal empire are more plainly made, and become more compre- 
hensive, as time advances. The land of Israel, in the centre of 
the commerce and political movements of the world, and partially 
exposed to the assaults of the great powers both of Asia and 
Africa, which contend with each other for universal dominion, is 
regarded by the latter with covetous eyes. In proportion as the 
chosen people become unmindful of their own peculiar vocation, 
and conform to the practices of pagans, they are involved in the 
disputes of hostile monarchs, and cannot escape an overthrow, for 
Israel's strength had hitherto consisted in its seclusion from the 
world. Thus, by a natural course of development, the kingdoms 
of the world become the rod with which God chastises the people 
who had become unfaithful to their divine calling. It is not 
merely the military power of these kingdoms, but also the hand 
of God, which opens pathways over seas and through deserts, 
across mountains and deep valleys, by which their armies can 
reach the very heart of the holy land, although its position and 
natural features had seemed to secure it from invasion. 

2. Nevertheless, the arrogance of these pagans, and their con- 
tempt of Jehovah, the God of Israel, do not remain unpunished ; 
divine justice overtakes the guilty. The kingdoms of the world 
successively rise, violate the sanctuary of God, and are over- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 211 

thrown, as soon as the designs of God are fulfilled. The words 
which God had spoken to Abraham (§ 24. 1, Obs. 3), still retain 
their efficacy : " I will curse hirn that curseth thee." (Gen. 
12 : 3.) Even as in earlier ages the curse had descended on 
Egypt, Amalek, Edoin, Moab and Ammon, which these desired 
to bring upon the people of God, so, too, Assyrian, Chaldean, 
Persian, Greek and Roman oppressors are successively prostrated; 
while that kingdom proceeds from the midst of the despised and 
oppressed people of Israel, which the God of heaven sets up, 
and which shall stand for ever. (Dan. 2 : 44; § 107. 1.) — ■ 
Israel, although often transgressing, yet always remaining the 
people of God until its final rejection, was, as a people, a stone 
of stumbling to ancient nations, even as Christ is to the nations 
of modern times ; and, in a certain sense, the words may be 
applied to Israel also : " Whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall 
be broken." (Matt. 21 : 44.) 

Obs. — For the purpose of avoiding any interruptions in relating 
afterwards the history of this period, we insert here a very brief 
historical sketch of those kingdoms of the world, with which the 
people of God came in contact during this period. 

I. The first earthly kingdom which God employed, during this 
period, as a rod for chastising his people, was Syria, the capital of 
which was Damascus. This city had been taken and garrisoned by 
David; during Solomon's reign, however, an independent kingdom 
was again established here under Rezon (1 Kings 11 : 24), whose 
descendant, Ben-hadad L, in consideration of vast treasures which 
Asa gave him, turned his arms against Baasha, king of Israel, and 
inflicted serious injuries on him. Hostilities continued between the 
latter kingdom and Syria. Ben-hadad I. was succeeded by his son 
Ben-hadad II., who was murdered by the usurper Hazael. The 
latter severely afflicted Israel, and conquered the whole of the east- 
Jordanic territory. His son, Ben-hadad III., was repeatedly defeated 
by the Israelitish kings Jehoash and Jeroboam II., and was com- 
pelled to relinquish all the land which his predecessors had con- 
quered. At a later period, the two states, under Pekah of Israel and 
Rezin of Damascus, form an alliance against Ahaz of Judah. This 
alliance led to the ruin of the Syrian king, for Ahaz invoked the aid 
of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who carried the inhabitants of 
Syria captive to Assyria, and attached the country to his own 
territories. 



212 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

II. The Lord provided a still heavier rod for the chastisement of 
his people, when he employed the far more powerful Assyrian 
monarchy. Assyria was a colony of Babel (Gen. 10 : 10, 11) ; during 
its most flourishing period, it included the whole region watered by 
the Euphrates and the Tigris ; Nineveh, the metropolis, lay on the 
eastern side of the Tigris. The history of this kingdom is very 
obscure, and attended with great difficulties ; we can scarcely hope 
that the contradictions which occur in the accounts given of it by 
different writers will ever be fully reconciled. Those which are fur- 
nished by the Old Testament embrace a very short period, and occur 
only at intervals, but they alone are perfectly reliable. The first 
Assyrian king who is connected with the history of Israel is Pul, 
to whom Menahem became tributary. Tiglath-pileser carried the 
inhabitants of Syria and Northern Palestine captive to Assyria. 
Shalmanezer completed the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and 
carried away the remnant of the people. Sennacherib, on his march 
to Egypt, besieged Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah. Esar- 
haddon, his son and successor, carried Manasseh captive to Baby- 
lon. — The list of Assyrian kings, according to the Greek historians, 
commences with Ninus, and closes as early as the year 800 before 
Christ, with Sardanapalus ; in consequence of the revolt of two of his 
officers, Arbaces, governor of Media, and Belesis, governor of Ba- 
bylon, he gathered around him all his women and treasures in a 
palace, which he set on fire, and thus perished. In order to recon- 
cile these accounts with those contained in the Scriptures, many his- 
torians have assumed that a second or new Assyrian empire arose, 
which, after a subjection' to Media of short duration, acquired inde- 
pendence under the kings mentioned in the Bible, but which was 
finally destroyed by Cyaxares of Media, and Nabopolassar of Ba- 
bylon, about 625 years before Christ. 

III. The third earthly monarchy by which the people of God were 
chastised and humbled, was the vast Babylonian empire. Babylonia 
had originally founded Assyria, but afterwards appears as a province 
of the latter empire, at an early period. After the death of Sarda- 
napalus, Belesis, the Babylonian governor, acquired for the country 
an independence to which the new Assyrian empire soon put an end. 
The Babylonian Nabonassar, from whom a new era (the year 747 
before Christ) derives its name, restored the independence of the 
country. In the year 713, the Babylonian king Berodach-baladan 
sent ambassadors to Hezekiah king of Judah, and established 
friendly relations with him. During the reign of Manasseh, Esar- 
haddon, the Assyrian king, appears as the ruler of Babylon ; the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 213 

empire of Assyria, nevertheless, was rapidly approaching its fall. 
Nabopolassar, the governor of Babylon, became an independent king 
in the year 625, and was the founder of the new Babylonian and 
Chaldean dynasty, which acquired vast sway. His son, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who destroyed the kingdom of Judah, raised the power of 
this empire to a stupendous height, but its dissolution was equally 
rapid ; the interval between the year 562, in which he died, and the 
destruction of his empire by the Medes and Persians, did not exceed 
twenty-three years. Nebuchadnezzar's son, Evil-merodach (Bel- 
shazzar? see $ 107. 3, Obs.), was murdered, after a reign of two 
years, by his sister's husband, Neriglissor (Darius the Mede?) ; and 
the latter lost his life, four years afterwards, in a battle between his 
army and the army of Cyrus. His son Laborosoarchod lost his life 
after a reign of only nine months, in consequence of a conspiracy 
against him, which enabled a Babylonian named Naboned to ascend 
the throne. The Chaldean monarchy ended with him, in the 
year 539. 

Note. — When the Scriptural accounts are compared with those 
of Greek writers, it frequently occurs that the names of Chaldean, 
Median and Persian kings do not correspond. This result may be 
explained partly by the circumstance that oriental names are cor- 
rupted or changed when pronounced by the Greeks, and partly by 
the circumstance that these royal names are rather distinctive titles 
of honor than personal names, and that titles are often accumulated 
in the case of a single person, according to the oriental usage. 

IV. The influence of Egypt on the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, 
as far as any connection existed between them, was less important 
than in the former case, but nevertheless also hastened their ruin. 
After the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, no intercourse ex- 
isted between the two nations until the reign of Solomon, who mar- 
ried an Egyptian princess. This friendly relation between Judah 
and Egypt was probably interrupted by the appearance of a new 
dynasty in the latter kingdom. Jeroboam fled to the Egyptian king 
Shishak (Sesonchis), who even came up against Jerusalem during 
the reign of Rehoboam, and plundered the city. Egypt made fruit- 
less efforts to repress the growing power of the Asiatic kingdoms, 
and even the kingdoms of Israel and Judah supposed that the adop- 
tion of the course of policy which Egypt pursued would secure them 
against the same adversaries, although the prophets protested in the 
most positive manner against an alliance with Egypt (as, Isai. eh. 
30 and 31, &c). Hosea, the last king of Israel, made an alliance 
with king So (Sabaco?), the first king of the Ethiopian dynasty, 



214 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

which had obtained possession of Egypt ; this alliance resulted in 
the overthrow of Israel by Shalmaneser. Sennacherib conducted an 
expedition against Egypt, and, on the march, besieged Jerusalem, 
during the reign of Hezekiah ; he was, however, compelled to re- 
turn, not only in consequence of the tidings which were received 
that Tirhakah (Tarakus), the third king of the Ethiopian dynasty, 
was approaching with a powerful army, but also on account of a 
plague, which destroyed his own army. More serious collisions oc- 
curred between the Chaldean monarchy and the new Egyptian dy- 
nasty, founded by Psammetichus (Psametik), about 690 b.c. The 
enterprising son of the latter, named Necho, commenced a war with 
Nabopolassar, and, at Megiddo, slew Josiah, king of Judah, in the 
year 609 ; he was afterwards defeated by Nebuchadnezzar (in 606), 
near Carchemish (Circesium), and confined himself within the limits 
of Egypt. The succeeding kings of Judah repeatedly engaged in 
alliances with the powerless monarchy of Egypt, and by that course 
hastened the fall of their own kingdom. Egypt, however, remained 
independent, after the destruction of the Babylonian empire, until 
the year 525 B.C., when it was attached, by Cambyses, to the Persian 
empire. 

V. The Medo-Persian empire is the last that is connected with 
the Sacred History of this period. The Medes were in subjection 
to the Assyrian monarchy at an early period ; when the old Assyrian 
empire was overthrown, Arbaces was the first founder of Median 
independence, about the year 800. This kingdom was soon subdued 
by the new Assyrian empire, since it appears from 2 Kings 17 : 6, 
that some of the captive Israelites were assigned to the cities of the 
Medes in 721. Dejoces acquired a more permanent independence 
for Media, and his son Phraortes subjected the Persians to the Me- 
dian authority. His successor, Cyaxares, in connection with Nabo- 
polassar, his Chaldean ally, overthrew the Assyrian empire in 625 ; 
he was succeeded by Astyages. At this point, the Greek accounts 
begin to diverge. According to the (romancing) Cyropaedia of Xen- 
ophon, Astyages was succeeded by his son Cyaxares II. Cyrus, the 
nephew and son-in-law of the latter, was the son of Cambyses (the 
king of Persia, and a vassal of Cyaxares), and of Mandane, the 
daughter of Astyages. After receiving the command of the Median 
army, Cyrus led it against the declining empire of the Chaldeans, 
defeated the Chaldean army, took Babylon, and destroyed the Baby- 
lonian empire in 539. After the death of Cyaxares II., who left no 
male heirs, Cyrus became the sole monarch, according to Xenophon, 
of the united Medo-Persian empire, in 536 b.c. Herodotus gives a 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 215 

different account. According to his statements, Astyages was the 
last Median king, and Cyrus, who had been exposed in infancy by 
his grand-father, on account of an ill-boding dream, deprived him 
of his throne and his life. But the narrative of Herodotus also be- 
trays legendary embellishments. The most reliable statements are 
those of Ctesias, who had access to the Persian annals. Cyrus, who 
was not related by blood to Astyages, defeated him in 558, took pos- 
session of his kingdom, and married his daughter Amytis. 

The following list of the successive kings of Persia states the years 
in which they respectively died. — 1. Cyrus, died in 529 b. c. ; 
2. Cambyses, 522 ; 3. Pseudo-Smerdes, 521 ; 4. Darius Hystaspis, 
485; 5. Xerxes, 465; 6. Artaxerxes I. Longimanus, 424; 7. Xerxes 
II., 424; 8. Sogdianus, 424; 9. Darius Nothus, 404; 10. Artaxerxes 
II. Mnemon, 364; 11. Ochus, 338 ; 12. Arses, 335 ; 13. Darius Codo- 
mannus (under whom the Persian monarchy was overthrown by 
Alexander of Macedonia) died 330-years before Christ. 

§ 90. Division of the Kingdom. — Jeroboam. — Rehoboam. 

1. 1 Kings 12 : 1-24 (2 Chron. ch. 10-12). — After the death 
of Solomon, 975 b. C, the ten tribes, which, influenced by the 
powerful tribe of Ephraiin, had already, since the age of the 
Judges, regarded the ascendency of Judah with jealousy, assem- 
bled in Shechem; they demanded of Rehoboarn a diminution of 
the taxes. He adopted the unwise counsel of the young men, 
and returned an answer expressed in the most arrogant and in- 
sulting terms. The ten tribes stoned Adoram, the king's collector, 
and made Jeroboam, who had returned from Egypt, the king of 
Israel. Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem and collected an army, but 
the prophet Shemaiah forbade him to commence a war between 
brethren. — Rehoboam retained the tribe of Judah, and a part 
of Benjamin; many Israelites also, who entertained theocratic 
sentiments, and were unwilling to break the ties which bound 
them to the service of the temple, as well as all the priests and 
Levites, established themselves in the kingdom of Judah. Reho 
boam, who reigned 17 years, did evil in the sight of the Lord, 
for he too offered worship in high places; the Lord humbled him 
by permitting Shishak (Sesonchis), the king of Egypt, to enter 
Jerusalem and plunder the temple and the palace. 

2. 1 Kings 12 : 25 — ch. 14. — Jeroboam chose Shechem as his 



216 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

place of residence. In conformity to the ungodly policy which 
he adopted for the purpose of perpetuating the division of the 
two kingdoms, a new and distinct character was given to the 
religion of the state. He accordingly placed golden calves in Dan 
and Beth-el, on the northern and southern boundaries of his king- 
dom, appointed the festivals to be held a month later than the 
period prescribed by the Law, chose priests who were not of the 
sons of Levi, officiated himself as the high-priest, and promoted 
worship in high places. On one occasion, as he stood by the 
altar to burn incense, a certain prophet announced to him, that, 
on a future day, a son of the house of David, named Josiah, would 
make that altar unclean, by burning men's bones upon it. The 
altar was rent, and the hand of the king, which he put forth, 
when he commanded the prophet to be seized, dried up, but was 
restored, when the prophet besought the Lord. The prophet 
himself was slain by a lion after he had departed from the king. 
He had allowed himself to be deceived by the lying words of an 
old prophet of Betb-el, and had eaten his bread, although God 
had commanded him to eat no bread and drink no water in that 
idolatrous land, as a witness against it. Jeroboam sent his wife 
to the blind prophet Ahijah, to ask for counsel respecting his son 
wbo had fallen sick 5 a divine revelation enabled the prophet to 
recognize her, and he announces the death of her child, and the 
destruction of the house of Jeroboam. 

§ 91. Ahijah and Asa in Judah. — Jeroboam } s Successors in 

Israel. 

1. 1 Kings 15 : 1-24 (2 Chron. ch. 13-16). — Kehoboam was 
succeeded by his son Abijah (Abijam), a young and bold prince, 
whom state policy at least counselled to assume a theocratical 
position. In his war with Jeroboam, he accordingly delivered a 
masterly address to the hostile army (2 Chron. 13), and gained a 
brilliant victory. Three years afterwards, he was succeeded by 
his son Asa, who did that which was right in the eyes of the 
Lord j he removed the altars of the strange gods, built fenced 
cities, and organized an efficient army. Through the power of 
prayer he prevailed against Zerah, king of Ethiopia (Cush), and 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 21T 

his immense army, consisting of one million of men. But when 
Baasha, king of Israel, had made an alliance with Ben-hadad I. 
of Syria, Asa made flesh his arm (Jerem. 17 : 5), and bribed the 
latter to turn his arms against Israel. He became diseased in his 
feet, as a divine punishment; nevertheless, he sought not to the 
Lord, but to the physicians. 

2. 1 Kings 15 : 25 — ch. 16. — Jeroboam was succeeded by 
his son Nadab, who had scarcely reigned two years, when he was 
destroyed, together with his whole house, by the usurper Baasha. 
The new king chose Tirzah as his residence, and reigned nearly 
24 years. His son Elah was murdered, in the second year of his 
reign, by Zimri, the captain of half his chariots. The latter 
reigned seven days only : after the army had chosen their general 
Omri as their king, Zimri set fire to the palace in Tirzah, and 
perished in the flames. Omri prevailed over Tibni his competi- 
tor, and built the city of Samaria, which afterwards continued to 
be the royal residence. He reigned 12 years. His son Ahab 
took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of king Ethbaal (Ithobalus) 
of Sidon (originally a priest of Astarte or Ashtoreth, afterwards 
the murderer of the king and the usurper of his throne — known 
also, as the great-grandfather of Dido). The worship of Baal and 
Ashtoreth was constituted the state-religion of Israel, through the 
power and influence of Jezebel. 

§ 92. Elijah the Tishbite. 

1. Elijah the Tishbite first appears on the occasion on which 
he pronounces a word of almighty power, when he informs Ahab 
that neither dew nor rain shall fall during a long period. "As 
the Lord God of Israel liveth," he says, " there shall not be dew 
nor rain, but according to my word" The ravens bring him 
food by the brook Gherith, and when the brook dries up, he goes 
to Zarephath (Sarepta), in Phenicia, and dwells with a widow, 
whose barrel of meal and cruse of oil are continually replenished 
in a miraculous manner, and whose son he restores to life. — In 
the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, 
*i Go, shew thyself unto Ahab ; and I will send rain upon the 
earth." Ahab, whom the devout Obadiah had informed of the 
19 



218 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

approach of the prophet, goes forth to meet him. All the people 
are gathered on mount Carmel. " How long halt ye between two 
opinions V the prophet exclaimed, " if the Lord be God, follow 
him : but if Baal, then follow him." In the presence of the 
king and the people, Elijah, standing alone in opposition to 450 
g priests of Baal, furnishes the evidence that Jehovah is God, and, 
by his command, the people slay all the priests of Baal at the 
brook Kishon. While the sky remains unclouded, he announces 
the approach of the rain. The word is spoken ; he sends his 
servant six times to the summit of Carmel, but not a cloud is 
seen. At the seventh time, the servant sees a little cloud arise 
out of the sea, like a man's hand, and the heaven was soon black 
with clouds. Ahab hastens to his house, and the prophet runs 
before him. 

2. 1 Kings ch. 19. — Elijah flees from Jezebel, who thirsts for 
revenge, and finds a place of refuge in the wilderness of Judah. 
An angel encourages him, and brings him food ; in the strength 
of that meat he goes 40 days and 40 nights, until he reaches 
mount Horeb. Here his troubled soul utters mournful com- 
plaints. The Lord is not in the great and strong wind, nor in 
the earthquake, nor in the fire. But after the fire came a still 
small voice, and then Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle, for 
he felt that the Lord was near. He learns, in answer to his 
complaints, that 7000 are left in Israel, whose knees had not 
bowed unto Baal, and whose mouths had not kissed him. The 
prophet also receives the commission to anoint Hazael to be king 
over Syria, who shall punish the idolatry of Israel — to anoint 
Jehu to be king over Israel, who shall punish the house of Ahab — 
and to anoint Elisha to be a prophet in his own place, who shall 
continue his great work. On departing thence, he finds Elisha 
behind the plough, and casts his mantle upon him; the latter 
kisses his father and mother, and then follows Elijah. 

Obs. — It was before Horeb, where Israel had made the covenant 
which was afterwards broken, that Elijah complained unto the Lord 
of his apostate people. Elijah was a second Moses — but Moses had 
not ceased to pray in Horeb for the unfaithful people, when the 
Lord's wrath was kindled ($ 44. 1) ; in the present case, it is Elijah 
whose wrath is kindled, and it is the Lord who restrains his burning 
and consuming zeal. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 219 



§ 93. Ahab in Israel. 

1. 1 Kings 20. — Ben-hadad II., king of Syria, warred against 
Ahab, but, agreeably to the announcement of a certain prophet, 
the 232 young men of the princes of the provinces put to flight 
both the drunken Syrian and his 32 carousing allies. The next 
year Ben-hadad returned, believing that Jehovah was a God of 
the hills, and not of the valleys also; he is defeated in the valley 
or plain of Jezreel, and taken prisoner. The weak king of 
Israel, in place of slaying him, calls him Brother ; a prophet, 
who had caused himself to be smitten and wounded, pronounces 
Ahab's sentence : " Thy life shall go for his life." 

2. 1 Kings 21-22 : 40. — The Jezreelite, Naboth, in accordance 
with Num. 36 : 7, refused to sell his vineyard to Ahab. Jezebel 
discovers a method of comforting the king, whom this refusal 
had made discontented and sullen. She instigates the elders of 
Jezreel to procure false witnesses against Naboth ; the unfortunate 
man is accused of the crime of blaspheming God and the king, 
and is stoned, so that he dies. Elijah is commanded by the Lord 
to announce to Ahab that, as a retribution, the dogs should lick 
his blood in the place where they had licked the blood of Na- 
both, that his 'whole house should be utterly destroyed, like the 
house of Jeroboam, and that the dogs should eat Jezebel by the 
wall of Jezreel. Ahab repented; it was not deep sorrow and 
penitence of heart which he manifested ; nevertheless, as he did 
humble himself before the Lord, it was announced that the ruin 
of his house should be deferred until the days of his son. — After 
these things, Ahab made an alliance with Jehoshaphat, the devout 
king of Judah, for the purpose of recovering Ramoth in Gilead, 
which the faithless Ben-hadad had not restored. Both kings 
allow themselves to be led astray by the 400 prophets of Ahab, 
through whom a lying spirit speaks, although the true prophet, 
Micaiah, admonishes them to abandon the enterprise. Ahab dis- 
guises himself on entering into the battle ; he is wounded by a 
man who draws a bow at a venture, and dies at even; and when 
the chariot which his blood had stained, is washed in the pool of 
Samaria, the dogs lick up his blood. 



220 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 94. Jehoshajphat in Judali. — Ahaziah and Jehoram in Israel. 
— Elijah is taken up into Heaven. 

1. 1 Kings 22 : 41, &c. (2 Chron. 17-21.) — Jehoshaphat, a 
devout son of a devout father (king Asa), was abundantly blessed 
of the Lord, for he took away the high places and groves (the 
worship of nature), sent Levites and priests with the book of the 
Law throughout the kingdom, journeyed among the people him- 
self for the purpose of inspecting their religious state, and esta- 
blished judges in all the cities. He endeavored to heal, as far as 
his influence extended, the " affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6 : 6), 
that is, the sore evils which originated in the division of the 
kingdom, and the hostile feelings entertained by Judah and 
Israel. But while he labored to unite the interests of the two 
kingdoms, he seems to have forgotten that no union can enjoy a 
blessing and be permanent, unless the Lord is also associated with 
it. Now, the curse of God lay upon the house of Ahab, and 
hence a union with it could result in nothing but evil to the de- 
vout king. He nearly lost his life in the expedition to Ramoth, 
for the enemy supposed him to be the king of Israel. He united 
with Ahaziah, AhaVs son and successor, in constructing ships 
designed to make a voyage to Tarshish, but the Lord destroyed 
all the works. The most serious misfortune, however, among all 
the fruits of this unwise union, was the marriage of his son Je- 
horam with Athaliah, JezebePs daughter. 

Obs. — The following table exhibits the relationship between the 
two royal families: 

Ahab, Jehoshaphat, 

! i 



Ahaziah, Jehoram, Athaliah, Jehoram, 



Ahaziah. Jehosheba, 

I (2 Kings 11 : 2.) 

Joash,' (2 Chron. 22 : 11.) 



2. 2 Kings ch. 1. — Ahab was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, 
who inquired concerning his sickness, not of Jehovah, but of 
Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, a city of the Philistines. Elijah 
meets the messengers of the king, and says to them : " Is it not 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 221 

because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of 
Baal-zebub the god of Ekron ? Now therefore thus saith the 
Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou 
art gone up, but shalt surely die." The messengers do not know 
the man, but Ahaziah recognizes the hairy man who is girt with 
a girdle of leather about his loins. He commands him to be 
apprehended. Two captains with their companies of fifty men, 
who attempt to take the " man of God/ ; as they themselves call 
him, are consumed by fire from heaven. Elijah voluntarily fol-* 
lows the third captain, who approaches him in deep humility, 
and he personally announces to the king that he shall surely die. 
Ahaziah is succeeded by his brother Jehoram. 

Obs. 1. — Baal-zebub signifies "the fly-baal" or "god of flies ;" 
he is the guardian deity who was supposed to afford protection from 
the swarms of flies which, in oriental countries, assume the character 
of a very serious evil. The Greeks also had their Zsvf a^to^v^, 
iiv'Cojypot . The later Jews transferred the name to Satan : Beelzebub, 
by a slight change, took the form of Belsebul (that is, dominus ster- 
cor is). 

Obs. 2. — Elijah could consistently command fire to come down 
from heaven and consume those who dishonored and despised in him 
the prophet and servant of God. But when the disciples of Jesus, 
in a similar case (Luke 9 : 54-56, and § 131. 3, Obs.), desired to imi- 
tate that example, the Lord restrained them, and said : " Ye know 
not what manner of spirit ye are of." Elijah here acted as the repre- 
sentative of the Law, which showed no indulgence, but the disciples 
of Christ were the representatives of the Gospel which proclaims the 
remission of sins. The old covenant necessarily alarmed and sub- 
dued the enemies of the kingdom of God by minatory language and 
punitive measures, while the new covenant designed to disarm and, 
if possible, to win them by forgiving love. 

3. 2 Kings 2. — Elijah proceeded to Jericho, accompanied by 
Elisha, who anticipated the events which soon occurred, and re- 
fused to leave him. The prophet's mantle opens a passage across 
the bed of the Jordan. Elisha says to his departing master : "I 
pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." (The 
first-born son was entitled to a double portion of the paternal 
estate (Deut. 21 : 17). — Elisha alludes to this provision of the 
19* 



222 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Law, when he prays that, as the first-born spiritual son of Elijah, 
he may inherit a double portion of his spirit.) — A chariot of fire 
and horses of fire appear, and Elijah goes up by a whirlwind into 
heaven ; Elisha calls to him, as he ascends : " My father, my 
father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" The 
sons of the prophets in Jericho extort from Elisha permission to 
send forth fifty men in search of Elijah, supposing him to have 
been removed by the Spirit of the Lord to another place on earth ; 
the search is made in vain, as Elisha had predicted. 

Obs. — Elijah was a second Moses ; Moses founded the theocracy, 
Elijah renewed it, and both appear at the same time, on the mount 
of transfiguration, to Him who completed it (Matt. 17 : 3, and § 145. 
Obs.). As an earnest preacher of repentance, Elijah was a type of 
John the Baptist (Luke 1 : 17 ; Matt. 11 : 14). 

§ 95. The labors of Elisha, 

1. 2 Kings 2-6. — Elisha' s prayer was heard. His master's 
mantle again divides the waters of Jordan. In Jericho he makes 
the waters of a bitter spring sweet, by casting salt into it. In 
the neighborhood of the idolatrous city of Bethel, 42 children 
mock him, and say : " Go up, thou bald-head ;" their derisive 
allusion to Elijah's ascension to heaven is punished by two bears 
which tear them in pieces. Jehoram, the new king of Israel, did 
not altogether resist the influence of the prophet ; nevertheless, 
he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam. He made an alliance 
with Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom against the revolted 
Moabites. For Jehoshaphat's sake, Elisha furnishes the kings 
with water in the barren region which they occupy. On the next 
morning, when the Moabites saw the reflected light of the rising 
sun as it shone upon the standing water, they supposed, in their 
delusion and madness, that the water was blood, and inferred that 
a rupture and a bloody contest had occurred in the camp of the 
allied kings. The false security to which this supposition led, 
occasioned their total defeat. Elisha appears, on many occasions, 
as a second Elijah. He relieves a prophet's widow from debt, 
by the miracle of the pot of oil ; he informs the hospitable Shu- 
nammite that she shall receive a son, and, subsequently, restores 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 223 

the deceased child to life. During a dearth in the land, he ena- 
bles the sons of the prophets to eat the gourds of the colocynth 
by adding meal to the pottage, and with only twenty loaves of 
barley, he feeds a large number of people. He heals Naaman, 
the leper, Ben-hadad's general, and transfers his leprosy, as a 
punishment, to his own deceitful servant Gehazi. By another 
miracle he recovers for one of the sons of the prophets the bor- 
rowed axe-head which had fallen into the Jordan. 

2. 2 Kings 6 : 8-ch. 7. — Elisha reveals to Jehoram the se- 
cret counsels of Ben-hadad II. ; the latter sends an army to Do- 
than, for the purpose of seizing the prophet. Elisha encourages 
his alarmed servant, and says : " Fear not : for they that be with 
us are more than they that be with them." The Lord answers 
his prayer, and opens the eyes of the young man, who now sees 
that the mountain is full of horses and chariots of fire round 
about Elisha. The prophet's prayer smites his enemies with 
blindness; then he leads them himself to Samaria, heals, pro- 
tects, feeds and dismisses them. Soon afterwards, Ben-hadad 
besieged Samaria, and the pressure of the famine in the city was 
so great, that a certain woman slew her own son and ate of the 
flesh. This circumstance so powerfully wrought upon the feel- 
ings of the king, that, yielding to their impulse, he took an oath 
that he would slay Elisha, whom he regarded as the original cause 
of the siege. But he immediately perceived the rashness of his 
resolution, and at once followed the messenger who had already 
departed for the purpose of seizing the prophet. The latter now 
informs the king that on the next day already the price of articles 
of food would be so low as to be unprecedented. The courtier, 
on whose hand the king was leaning, was incredulous, and said : 
" Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this 
thing be V 9 The peophet answered : " Thou shalt see it with 
thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof/' During the following night, 
the Syrians were alarmed by a noise of chariots, horses and a 
great host, and, supposing that a vast army of Egyptians and 
others had arrived for the purpose of relieving the city, they 
hastily fled, leaving all that they possessed behind. Four lepers 
bring the tidings to the city, that the camp of the enemy is de- 
serted. The immense booty found in the abandoned tents caused 



224 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

provisions to be exceedingly abundant and cheap, but the unbe* 
lieving courtier was crushed in the gate by the people who strug- 
gled to obtain egress, and he died, according to the prophet's 
word. 

3. 2 Kings 8 : 1-15. — Elisha afterwards goes to Damascus, 
and is met by Ben-hadad's servant Hazael, whom Elijah had been 
commissioned to anoint. (1 Kings 19 : 16.) Hazael is com- 
manded by his master, who is sick, to inquire of the prophet con- 
cerning the course which his disease will take. Elisha answers 
that the disease itself is not fatal, but that, nevertheless, the king 
will die, and he weeps as he meditates on the misery which Ha- 
zael will cause Israel to suffer. Hazael returns, murders the 
king, and reigns in his stead. 

§ 96. Jehoram and Ahaziah in Judah. — Jehu in Israel. — 
Athaliah and Jehoash in Judah. 

1. 2 Kings 8 : 16, &c. (2 Chron. 21, 22). Jehoram, the son 
of Jehoshaphat, commenced his reign with the murder of his 
brothers, who were better than himself; and, entertaining senti- 
ments similar to those of his ungodly wife Athaliah, he intro- 
duced the worship of Baal in Judah. The Philistines and Ara- 
bians plundered Jerusalem, and carried away all his treasures and 
his children ; his youngest son alone was left, named Jehoahaz 
(2 Chron. 21 : 17), and also Ahaziah (2 Chron. 22 : 1). The 
Lord, moreover, smote him in his bowels with an incurable dis- 
ease, and he died in great agony ; this event occurred according 
to the prediction contained in a writing which came to him from 
Elijah, and which the prophet had either prepared himself, pre- 
vious to his death, or directed the sons of the prophets to prepare 
in his name, after his death. — Ahaziah succeeded him. He 
united with Joram, the son of Ahab, in a military expedition 
against Hazael of Syria. At Bamoth-gilead, Joram is wounded ; 
he retires to his summer-house in Jezreel, where he receives a 
visit from Ahaziah. 

2. 2 Kings 9, 10. — In the mean time Elisha directs one of the 
children of the prophets to anoint Jehu, the general of Jehoram 
(Joram), who was with the army near Ramoth. After he had 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 225 

been proclaimed king, he advances towards Jezreel. Jehoram 
sends messengers to meet him, and, as they are detained by 
Jehu, he goes forward himself, in company with his nephew 
Ahaziah, king of Judah, to meet Jehu ; as soon as the latter sees 
him, he draws his bow, pierces his heart with an arrow, and com- 
mands his body to be cast from the chariot on the field of Na- 
both ; Ahaziah attempts to escape, but is pursued, and receives a 
wound of which he also dies. Jezebel is thrown down from a 
window of the palace, and devoured by dogs. — Jehu transmits a 
letter to Samaria, in which he calls upon the guardians of 70 
grand-sons of Ahab, who resided in that city, to put them all to 
death, and he is obeyed. As he approaches Samaria, he meets 
42 men from Judah, who design to visit the king, to whom they 
are related; these also are slain. After entering the city, Jehu 
gathers all the people together, and says : " Ahab served Baal a 
little ) but Jehu shall serve him much." All the priests of Baal 
assemble, a solemn sacrifice to that idol is proclaimed, the sacrifice 
is offered, and when the worshippers are collected in Baal's 
temple, they are all slain. — Nevertheless, Jehu did not depart 
from the sins of Jeroboam, and God accordingly declared that his 
house should not continue after the fourth generation. In those 
days the Lord began to be weary of Israel, and Hazael smote 
them in all their coasts. 

3. 2 Kings 11, 12. (2 Chron. 22-24.) — After the death of 
Ahaziah, his mother Athaliah destroyed the seed royal, for the 
purpose of securing the royal authority for herself. Only one 
of the king's sons, Joash (a grand-son of Athaliah), who was one 
year old, escaped death ; his father's sister, the wife of the high- 
priest Jehoiada, withdrew him from the slaughter, and concealed 
him in the temple. Six years afterwards, Jehoiada succeeded in 
placing him on the throne ; Athaliah was put to death, and the 
worship of Baal was suppressed in Judah. The priests readily 
dedicated their income to the work of repairing the injuries which 
the temple had sustained. — But Joash (Jehoash) restored the 
worship of Baal, after the death of Jehoiada, and the prophet 
Zechariah (the son of the latter), who rebuked the idolatrous 
people, was stoned. The calamities which he had predicted, soon 



226 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

occurred ; the Syrians came against Jerusalem, shed much blood, 
and carried much spoil away. Joash himself was slain by his 
own servants. 

§ 97. JehoaJiaz, Joash and Jeroboam II in Israel. Amaziah 

in Judah. 

1. 2 Kings 13, 14. — Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, also followed 
the sins of Jeroboam, and the Lord delivered him into the hand 
of Hazael. During the reign of his son Joash, the prophet 
Elisha died, after having symbolically announced to the king (by 
the bow and arrows) that he should thrice defeat the Syrians. 
Joash was overwhelmed with grief when the prophet died, and 
exclaimed : " my father, my father ! the chariot of Israel, and 
the horsemen thereof!" A dead man, whose body was cast into 
Elisha' s sepulchre, was restored to life, when he came in contact 
with the prophet's bones. — Jeroboam II., the son of Joash, 
retook, in accordance with the words of the prophet Jonah, the 
whole east-Jordanic territory from Ben-hadad III., king of Syria, 
for the Lord saw that Israel was in affliction, and had no helper* 
He saved Israel by the hand of Jeroboam, and sent the prophets 
Hosea, Amos, Jonah and others, to teach the king of Israel the 
ways of Jehovah. This improved condition of the kingdom was 
not, however, long sustained, for the people refused to be led to 
repentance by the goodness of God. 

2. 2 Kings 14. (2 Chron. 25.) — Amaziah, the son and suc- 
cessor of Joash king of Judah, numbered 300,000 men in his 
kingdom, who were able to go forth to war; he also hired 100,000 
men of Israel, whom he, however, soon afterwards dismissed, in 
obedience to the directions of a certain prophet. He defeated 
the Edomites, and took Selah (Petra), their chief city. But he 
brought back with him the idols of the Edomites, and burned 
incense to them. During his absence, the Israelitish mercenaries 
whom he had dismissed, destroyed many men in Judah and plun- 
dered their cities. It was, probably, in consequence of these 
transactions, that he declared war against Israel. The answer 
of Joash consisted of the parable of the cedar and the thistle ; 
but Amaziah would not receive the warning, and was defeated 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 227 

and taken prisoner. Joash broke down the wall of Jerusalem, 
and robbed the temple and palace. Amaziah ; who was afterwards 
restored to liberty, lost his life in consequence of a conspiracy 
which his own people formed against him. 

§ 98. Uzziah and Jotham in Judah. — The cotemporanemis 
kings in Israel. 

1. 2 Kings 15 : 1-7. (2 Chron. 26.) — Uzziah (also called 
Azariah), the son of Amaziah, ascended the throne when he was 
sixteen years old, and reigned fifty-two years. He sought God 
as long as the prophet Zechariah remained with him, and the di- 
vine blessing caused him to prosper. He subdued the Philistines 
and the Arabians, fortified Jerusalem, built other cities and 
strong places, loved agriculture, and promoted its interests. His 
army amounted to more than 300,000 men, and he introduced 
the use of the catapult and ballista in the siege of fortified places. 
But at length his heart was lifted up, and he presumed to connect 
the office of the high-priest with the royal dignity. On attempt- 
ing to burn incense, in opposition to the remonstrances of the 
priests, he was instantly smitten with the leprosy, and remained 
a leper until he died. His son Jotham, who had assumed the 
regency, after his father's disease had compelled him to seclude 
himself, ascended the throne after the death of the latter and 
reigned sixteen years. He did that which was right in the sight 
of the Lord, repaired the temple, compelled the Ammonites to 
pay him tribute, and acquired great power. 

2. 2 Kings 15 : 8, &c. — After the death of Jeroboam II. the 
internal affairs of Israel long remained in confusion ; it was only 
at the expiration of eleven years of anarchy that his son Zach- 
ariah ascended the throne ; but he was murdered six months af- 
terwards, and with him the family of Jehu became extinct. 
Shallum, who had slain him, after reigning one month only, was 
put to death by his general Menahem. This king retained pos- 
session of the throne by means of the terror which his cruelty 
inspired, and also by the aid of Pul, the powerful king of As- 
syria, whose protection he purchased for 1000 talents of silver. 
After a reign of ten years he was succeeded by his son Pekahiah 



228 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

This king, after reigning two years, was killed by Pekah, who 
reigned twenty years, when he too was slain, and Hoshea, the last 
king of Israel, seized the throne. Pekah had previously made 
an alliance with Rezin king of Syria, against king Ahaz of Judah ; 
the latter invoked the aid of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, by 
whom both the Syrians and the inhabitants of the northern part 
of Galilee and the east-Jordanic territory, were carried captive 
to Assyria. 

§ 99. The new character which Prophecy assumed, 

1. At the commencement of the eighth century before the 
Christian era, the development of Prophecy (as far as it was sus- 
tained by the Old Testament) exhibited a new phase. Since the 
period in which Prophecy had received a new impulse through 
Samuel, it had directed its attention almost exclusively to the 
present time; indications of future events were rare. The re- 
formation of which he was the agent had given a new and more 
animated appearance to theoeratical life and theocratical forms, 
and the most noble fruits of the change were produced during 
the period in which David and Solomon occupied the throne. 
The present times contained the visible germs and types of that 
future and perfect state to which the tendencies of the old cove- 
nant were directed. It had hitherto been the office of prophecy 
to tend and to preserve these germs and types, and organically 
unfold them more and more. Thus, too, Messianic prophecy (a 
distinct style of prophecy), was founded on the present condition 
of the people — it viewed the age of the Messiah as the period 
in which the present condition would undergo a change and be 
raised to glory and perfection. This bloom of Prophecy did not 
long continue; the division of the theocratic state into two king- 
doms, was the first violent outbreak of that corruption which, 
henceforward, continually assumed a darker hue. While the 
hope remained that a return to the former and happier condition 
would occur, the efforts of Prophecy were unwearied to infuse 
new vigor into the theocratic element which still subsisted, and 
to suppress the corruption which had unveiled itself. In these 
circumstances, when all the energy of prophecy was necessarily 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 229 

expended in the attempt merely to restore that happy condition 
which had passed away, the theocratical and Messianic sense or 
consciousness could not be further unfolded and make progress 
in light and power. But when that hope gradually died away, 
and the efforts of Prophecy to effect a thorough reformation of a 
generation whose degeneracy rapidly proceeded, were found to be 
fruitless, Prophecy itself was at last compelled to despair; it 
abandoned the belief that such a restoration or such an improve- 
ment of the present condition of affairs could possibly be de- 
veloped from its own resources — and this is the point at which 
we have now arrived. 

2. Nevertheless, the covenant which God had made with the 
fathers continued to be of force. If an organic development pro- 
ceeding from the present times, cannot furnish the desired results, 
these may be obtained by means of the catastrophe of & judgment, 
and be realized through a development that is commenced anew. 
Hence Prophecy abandons the present times, in a certain sense, 
and directs its view to the future. The first object which it now 
perceives is the inevitable judgment prepared for Israel and 
Judah. Since the people of God conform to the practices of 
pagans, and, forgetful of their own vocation, form connections 
with the kingdoms of the world, the latter become the source 
from which that judgment proceeds. But as the covenant of God 
continues to be of force, this j udgment appears in the light of a 
salutary chastisement, and this peculiar character of the judgment 
which Israel is taught to expect, distinguishes it from the judg- 
ment which is to overtake other nations. There is a deliverance 
from the judgment prepared for Israel — a restoration shall suc- 
ceed their fall. A new David, far more glorious and exalted 
than the former, is appointed to restore, renew, glorify and per- 
fect the kingdom of God. In consequence of this new character 
which Prophecy assumes, the conception of the Messiah, which 
had, during several centuries (since the days of David), receded 
from the view, resumed its prominent position, and acquired all 
that fulness and distinctness during its further development which 
it was intended to possess under the old covenant. — This change 
in the position and the task assigned to prophecy now produced 
the conviction that a certain want existed; which prophecy could 

20 



230 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

not experience at an earlier period, when its view was directed to 
the present time exclusively, that is, the necessity was now felt 
that the predictions which were pronounced should be preserved 
in a written form. Prophecy was compelled to withdraw its atten- 
tion from the generation of the present day, and direct its view 
to the generations of future times. 

Obs. — The writings of the Prophets in the Bible are chronologi- 
cally arranged in the two divisions of the greater and the minor pro- 
phets, as the latter have been termed. The times in which they 
flourished, are referred to the following three periods: — 1. Before 
the Babylonian Captivity ; the prophets who died before that judg- 
ment overtook the people of the covenant, are Hosea, Joel, Amos, 
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah and Isaiah. 2. Near to, and during the Cap- 
tivity ; those who uttered predictions during its continuance, or im- 
mediately before or after it, are Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. 3. After the return of the people from 
Babylon; those who then labored, are Haggai, Zechariah, and 
Malachi. 

§ 100. The Prophets who preceded the Captivity. (JEEosea, Joel, 
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah.') 

1. The labors of Hosea, which commenced during the reign 
of Jeroboam II. or of Uzziah, had a particular reference to the 
kingdom of Israel. The prophet rebuked the apostasy of the 
people from Jehovah, both by his words and by his acts, an- 
nounced the impending divine judgments, and also proclaimed 
that Israel should be restored to divine favor, after sincere 
repentance had been manifested. 

Obs. — The following prediction occurs in ch. 3, ver. 4, 5: " The 
children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without 
a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without 
an ephod, and without teraphim : afterward shall the children of 
Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king ; 
and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." (See 
I 118. 2, and \ 119.) 

2. Joel, who probably dwelt in the kingdom of Judah, an- 
nounces the judgments of God, under the image of destructive 
locusts (in the valley of Jehoshaphat, § 75. 2), exhorts the 
people to repent, and foretells the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 231 

Obs. — The following prediction occurs in ch. 2 : " It shall come 
to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and 
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall 
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : and also upon the 
servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my 
Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth . . 
.... before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And 
it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the 
Lord shall be delivered." 

3. Amos, a herdman of Tekoah in Judah, who was com- 
manded by the Lord to prophesy, as he followed the flock (7 : 
15), shows God's judgments upon the neighboring pagan nations, 
and in prophetic visions sees Israel's ripeness for judgment, but 
also announces a future deliverance. 

Obs. — The following prediction occurs in ch. 9, v. 11: " In that 
day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen^ and close up 
the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build 
it as in the days of old." 

4. Obadiah briefly but sternly rebukes the Edomites. 

5. Jonah, the son of Amittai, dwelt in Israel. He had given 
Jeroboam II. assurances of success in his contests with the 
Syrians (2 Kings 14 : 25). He is next commanded to preach 
the Word of God in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, for a testi- 
mony against Israel. For the purpose of evading this divine 
commission, which did not accord with his views of the particular 
election of his people, and which also seemed to be attended with 
danger, he hastened to Joppa and engaged a passage on board a 
ship bound to Tarshish. During the prevalence of a violent tem- 
pest, the mariners, who acknowledge the righteous judgment of 
Jehovah and fear his name, cast Jonah forth into the sea, after 
the lot had designated him. He was swallowed by a great fish 
(which was probably a carcharias,* but certainly not a whale), 
and, on the third day, was vomited out alive upon the dry land. 

* The Carcharias (canis carcharias, sea-dog, &c), a shark of gigantic 
size, has a throat so large as to be able to swallow not only a man, but 
even a horse. On one occasion, a monster of this class swallowed a sailor, 
but immediately disgorged him, on being struck by a cannon-ball. (See 
Winer's Reallex. art. "Fische.") 



232 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

He now announces to the people of Nineveh that their city shall 
be overthrown in forty days; but the king (Pul?) and the people 
repent, and God spares them. Jonah is exceedingly displeased, 
but God convinces him of his folly and his sin, by means of the 
gourd (kikajon, ricinus), which came up in a night, and perished 
in a night. 

Obs. — Jonah's carnal sentiments respecting the particular elec- 
tion of his people constitute him an image or type of Israel ; like 
him, the people declined to fulfil the divine commission to preach to 
the heathen ; like him, they were constrained to obey ($ 112), and 
like him, they returned at a late day to the Lord in humility and 
penitence. But Jonah is also a type of the Redeemer, who executed 
in the most perfect manner the plan (to which Jonah conformed only 
with reluctance) according to which the preaching of repentance and 
faith, as well as of the great salvation which was connected with 
these, should proceed from the impenitent Jews and be thence 
brought to the penitent heathen. The preaching of Jonah among 
pagans was introduced and facilitated by the circumstance that he 
had been three days in the belly of the fish ; the preaching of the 
Gospel among heathens, in the same manner, derived power from 
the circumstance that the Redeemer abode three days in the heart 
of the earth, that is, that he died and that he rose again, which are 
the two points on which the work of redemption hinges. — The peni- 
tent people of Nineveh constitute the antitype of Israel ; they will 
rise in judgment and condemn all those who despised the preaching 
of Him who is a greater than Jonah (Matt. 12 : 39-41 ; see also Matt. 
16 : 4, "the sign of the prophet Jonas"). — Nineveh, lying on the 
eastern side of the Tigris, was, according to Diodorus, 480 stadia or 
60 miles in circumference, and contained 120,000 children (who 
could not " discern between their right hand and their left hand/' 
Jonah 4 : 11), which implies that the population amounted to two 
millions. 

§ 101. Continuation. (Isaiah, Micah.*) 

1. Isaiah, the son of Amoz, in Judah, connected with the 
royal family (a nephew of Amaziah), according to tradition, be- 
gan to prophesy during the last year of the reign of Uzziah. 
The book of Isaiah consists of two parts which are easily distin- 
guished. The theme of the former part is the Messiah, described 
as Immanuel (that is, God with us), or as a king and a judge. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 233 

The prophet also rebukes the people on account of their obdurate 
ingratitude, exhorts them to repent, announces the calling of the 
Gentiles and God's judgments upon Judah, describes the Lord's 
vineyard which brought forth wild grapes, &c. 

Obs. — "In that day/' the prophet declares, 4: 2, "shall the 
branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the 
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of 
Israel." — " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and 
shall call his name ImmanueV [7 : 14). — " Unto us a child is born, 
unto u-s a son is given ; and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The 
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (9 : 6). — 
" The thickets of the forests" of Assyria shall be cut down (10 : 34), 
but "there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
branch shall grow out of his roots ; and the Spirit of the Lord shall 
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of 
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the 
Lord" (11 : 1, 2), and he will introduce a period of universal peace 
on earth. " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and 
the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the 
cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down to- 
gether : and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking 
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall 
put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor de- 
stroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (11 : 6-9). 

2. In the second part of the predictions of Isaiah, ch. 40-66, 
the expectation or hope of salvation is seen in another aspect. 
The conception of sufferings which are vicarious and expiatory, 
now acquires prominence, and is embodied in the servant of Je- 
hovah. He is described as an expiatory sacrifice, bearing the 
sins of the people; he is vile and despised; he suffers and 
atones ; he is humbled, and afterwards made glorious. This con- 
ception of the servant of God, who suffers for the sins of the 
people, and by his sufferings makes atonement for them, acquires, 
particularly in the fifty-third chapter, almost the same clearness 
and distinctness in which it appears in the New Testament. 

Obs. — In ch. 53 : 4-7, for instance, the prophet says: " Surely he 
hath borne our griefs y and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem 



234 REDEMPTION AND^SALVATION. 

him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But be was wounded 
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are 
healed. . . . The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He 
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; 
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter," &c. 

3. Micah, in Judah, a cotemporary of Isaiah, prophesied in the 
days of Jothani, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He spoke both of the 
divine judgments upon the people, and also of their deliverance 
which the Messiah would accomplish. 

Obs. — "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little 
among the thousands of Judah (that is, families or divisions of the 
tribes, consisting of 1000 individuals), yet out of thee shall he come 
forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have 
been from of old, from everlasting." (5 : 2.) 



§ 102. Ahaz in Judah. — Overthrow of the Kingdom of Israel. 

1. 2 Kings 16 (2 Chron. 27, 28; Isa. 7-12).— Jotham, who 
feared God, was succeeded by his son, the wicked Ahaz; the 
latter served Baal, made his children pass through the fire, and 
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, 
and under every green tree. Pekah of Israel, and Rezin of 
Syria, besiege Jerusalem. Ahaz purchases the aid of Tiglath- 
pileser of Assyria, in opposition to the words of Isaiah, who tells 
him to ask a sign of the Lord. When the unbelieving Ahaz 
refuses, the prophet indicates a remote sign — the Messiah born 
of a virgin ; he, further, presents a pledge that this sign will be 
given, by referring to another which shall be speedily seen : 
namely, before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose 
the good, the two hostile kings shall depart from the land. — 
Tiglath-pileser afforded aid to a certain degree by conquering 
Syria, carrying a portion of the people of Israel captive to other 
regions, and imposing a tribute on those who remained. Never- 
theless, he soon afterwards came up against Jerusalem, as Isaiah 
had predicted, but could not, on that occasion, prevail. The 
temple of Jehovah was formally dedicated, by the influence of 
Ahaz, as a temple of idols. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 235 

Obs. — Those who passed through the fire (2 Kings 16 : 3, 2 Chron. 
28 : 3, &c.) were really consumed by it. The unholy human life was 
delivered over to fire as the true divine element, in order that, as it 
was supposed, all that was unholy in it might be consumed, and all 
that was divine in it might be cleansed and purified, and attain to 
communion with the Deity. The laws of Moses strictly prohibited 
this horrible form of idolatrous worship (see Lev. 18 : 21 ; 20 : 2, &c). 

2. 2 Kings ch. 17. — Hoshea, who had murdered Pekah, 
ascended the throne of Israel after a period of anarchy and con- 
fusion which continued nine years. Relying on his covenant 
with So, the king of Egypt, he refused to pay tribute to the As- 
syrians. Shaltnaneser besieged Samaria three years. After the 
capture of the city (722 B. C), he carried the people of Israel 
to Media and Assyria, and caused pagans from other regions to 
occupy the country. These mingled with the Israelites who still 
remained, and were ultimately known as the Samaritans. — God 
sent lions among the people, which slew some of them, and thus 
taught them the necessity of knowing the manner of the God of 
the land. At their request, Shalmaneser sent one of the priests 
of Israel, who instructed the people. While they learned to fear 
Jehovah, they did not abandon their own idolatrous worship, but 
combined it with the worship of Jehovah. 

Obs. 1. — A period of 253 years had now elapsed since Israel had 
separated from the house of David. The people continually resisted 
the I*ord, and no chastisements produced a reformation. Seven 
dynasties had passed away ; among the nineteen kings who succes- 
sively reigned, not one is found of whom it could be said that he did 
that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Even Jehu main- 
tained the worship of the golden calves. The measure of the ini- 
quity of the people was now full, and the long-suffering of God was 
exhausted. 

Obs. 2. — Among the Israelites who were carried captive to Assyria, 
the devout Tobit (§ 112. 2, Obs.) was unquestionably not the only 
one who had not bowed unto Baal ; there were, doubtless, others 
associated with him in the heathen land to which they were carried, 
whose afflictions and general walk and conduct directed the attention 
of the Gentiles to Jehovah and his divine promises, and in this 
manner opened to them also the door of knowledge and of faith. 



236 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 103. Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon. 

1. 2 Kings 18-20. (2 Chron. 29-32; Isai. 36-39.) — Heze- 
kiah, the devout son of the wicked Ahaz, commenced his reign, 
which continued twenty-nine years, by removing the high places, 
and extirpating the prevailing worship of idols. Among other 
acts, he destroyed the brazen serpent (called Nehushtan, that is, 
brazen) which Moses had made in the wilderness (§ 55. 3, Obs), 
and to which the children of Israel burnt incense. After the 
temple, the priests and the people had been sanctified, he caused 
the passover to be kept with unusual solemnity, and assigned 14 
days to its observance. The people of the kingdom of Israel, 
whom the final judgment, executed by Shalmaneser, had not yet 
overtaken, were formally invited to unite in the celebration, but in 
most instances treated the invitation with scorn. In consequence 
of his refusal to pay the customary tribute to the Assyrians, Sen- 
nacherib invaded the country with a powerful army. Although 
Hezekiah paid the enemy vast sums for the purpose of inducing 
him to depart, Sennacherib resolved to destroy Judah, in order 
that he might leave no enemy in the rear after he should have 
undertaken the invasion of Egypt which he already contemplated. 
The Assyrian general, Rab-shakeh, besieges Jerusalem, and, in 
the hearing of the people, utters words of scorn in reference to 
Jehovah and the king. Hezekiah prays to God, and Isaiah 
promises deliverance. In the mean time, Tirhakah (Tarakus) 
the king of Ethiopia, who then ruled over Upper Egypt, ap- 
proached Sennacherib with a hostile army, and compelled him to 
depart from Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the promised deliverance 
did not proceed from Tirhakah, but directly from the Lord him- 
self. The angel of the Lord destroyed, by means of a plague, 
185,000 men in the camp of Sennacherib in one night. The 
latter escaped to Nineveh, where he was murdered in the temple 
of his idol by his own sons. In those days, Hezekiah was sick 
unto death ; but when he prayed, the Lord added fifteen years to 
his life, and as a sign, caused the shadow on the sun-dial to go 
back ten degrees, according to the choice which Hezekiah had 
made. Isaiah directed that a lump of figs should be laid on the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 237 

boil from which the king suffered : he was then restored to health, 
Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, who had recently released 
himself from the yoke of Assyria, sent ambassadors to congratu- 
late Hezekiah on account of his two-fold deliverance ; the latter 
ostentatiously displayed all his treasures to them, but was informed 
that not only all these, but his children (descendants) also should 
be carried to Babylon. 

2. 2 Kings 21. (2 Chron. 33.) — Manasseh, the son of Heze- 
kiah, reigned 55 years; he introduced all the abominations of 
idolatry, and was exceedingly wicked. Esar-haddon, Sennache- 
rib's successor, who had re-conquered Babylon, carried Manasseh 
thither captive. But when he had sincerely repented, God re- 
stored him to his kingdom ; after his return he suppressed the 
worship of idols. His son Amon, who restored that worship, 
was slain after the expiration of two years. 

Obs. — If the apocryphal book of Judith is founded on an historical 
fact, the latter necessarily occurred during the captivity of Ma- 
nasseh. In this case, the name of Nebuchadnezzar is to be con- 
sidered as an additional title of Esar-haddon, according to \ 89. Obs. 
III. Note. 

§ 104. Josiah and Ms successors. — Overthrow of the Kingdom 
of Judali. — Gedaliah. 

1. 2 Kings 22, 23. (2 Chron. 34, 35.) — Josiah, Anion's son, 
ascended the throne when he was eight years old ; in his six- 
teenth year he began to seek after the Lord; in his twentieth 
year (2 Chron. 34 : 3), he commenced a thorough theocratic re- 
formation of the religious state of the people. At the same time 
he fulfilled the prediction respecting the altar in Beth-el (§ 90. 2), 
which had been pronounced nearly four centuries before his day. 
While Hilkiah, the high-priest, was superintending the repairs 
of the temple, he found the book of the laws of Moses, which 
had been almost entirely forgotten, but which now furnished a 
foundation for the proposed reformation. While Shaphan, the 
king's scribe, was examining the writing, his glance fell on the 
curses which Moses had recorded in reference to the apostasy of 
the people; these he read before the king. The prophetess 



238 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Huldah, who was consulted, declared that all the things which 
were threatened, would come to pass. Josiah now caused a solemn 
assembly of the people to be held, and commanded that all the 
words of the book of the covenant should be read before them. 
He also gave directions that the passover should be kept ; it was 
observed in a manner so solemn and so strictly conformed to the 
provisions of the Law, that no celebration of that festival since 
the days of Samuel fully equalled it. "When Pharaoh-necho, 
king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, Josiah un- 
necessarily opposed him and was slain in battle by him at Me- 
giddo, b. c. 609. His guilty subjects were filled with terror when 
he died, for they were conscious that the deserved judgment of 
God had been delayed solely on account of their devout king; 
God had called his righteous servant out of the world, in order 
that he might not see the calamities which were at hand. 
(2 Kings 22 : 20.) 

2. 2 Kings 24-25 : 21 (2 Chron. 36; Jerem. 39 and 52).— 
The people made Jehoahaz, a younger son of Josiah, their king. 
Three months afterwards, Necho, who had now conquered Phe-. 
nicia, gave the throne to his elder brother, Eliakim, whom he 
named Jehoiakim, and carried Jehoahaz himself captive to 
Egypt. After Jehoiakim had reigned eleven years, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon, who had defeated Necho near Carche- 
mish (Circesium), b. c. 606, appeared before Jerusalem. Jehoi- 
akim surrendered himself to him ; the king of Babylon seized 
various vessels of the temple, which he carried with him, and 
also conducted several noble youths as captives to Babylon, among 
whom was Daniel. This first deportation or removal of captives 
is the beginning of the Captivity of seventy years, which Jere- 
miah had already predicted (ch. 25 : 11, 12; 29 : 10). Soon 
afterwards, Jehoiakim rebelled, and the Chaldees again besieged 
Jerusalem; he lost his life, and was succeeded by his son Jehoi- 
achin, who reigned three months only, when he, too, surrendered 
to the king of Babylon. He and his family, together with the 
princes of the kingdom, the military men, the craftsmen and the 
smiths, were carried into captivity to Babylon ; Ezekiel the pro- 
phet was also among the captives. — Nebuchadnezzar made Mat- 
taniah ; the youngest son of Josiah, king of Judah, and changed 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 239 

his name to Zedekiah. The latter also, relying on a covenant 
with Pharaoh-hophra, unwisely, and contrary to the repeated 
remonstrances of Jeremiah, rebelled in the ninth year. Nebu- 
chadnezzar now commenced the third siege of Jerusalem, and 
prosecuted it during two years. A terrible famine ensued. 
Zedekiah the fugitive is seized, and, as Ezekiel had foretold (ch. 
12 : 13), his eyes were put out, and he was carried to Babylon, 
bound with fetters. Jerusalem was totally destroyed, and all the 
sacred vessels of the temple were carried to Babylon, b. c. 588. 

Obs. — During the 387 years which had elapsed since the division 
of the kingdom, twenty kings had reigned in Judah, all of whom 
belonged to the family of David (the female usurper Athaliah is not 
here enumerated) ; of these, only seven walked in the ways of their 
father David. Neither these faithful kings, nor the many mighty 
prophets who arose, could permanently repress the torrent of cor- 
ruption which invaded the people, although divine chastisements and 
divine patience had long sought to produce a different result. 

3. 2 Kings 25 : 22, &c. (Jerem. 40-44). —Nebuchadnezzar 
had left a small portion of the rural population behind, and made 
Gedaliah the governor of the country. He resided in Mizpah, 
which was furnished with a small number of Chaldee soldiers ; 
he maintained friendly relations with Jeremiah, and exercised his 
authority with great gentleness. Many fugitives gradually re- 
turned; peace and order in civil life began to be again esta- 
blished, when Gedaliah, who would not entertain suspicions, 
although he had been warned, was assassinated, two months after 
he had assumed office, by Ishmael, a fanatical Jew who was con- 
nected with the royal family. All the people who still remained, 
dreading the vengeance of the Chaldees, fled to Egypt. 

§ 105. The Prophets of the Captivity (JVahum, Habahhuk, 
Zephaniah, Jeremiali). 

1. The prophet Nahum, of Elkosh, in Galilee, foretold the 
destruction of Nineveh. — Habakkuk announced that the kingdom 
of Judah would be destroyed by the Chaldeans as it abundantly de- 
served, and also set forth the judgment which awaited those wicked 
invaders themselves.-— Zephaniah prophesied in the days of king 



240 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Josiah. He announces God's judgments both against Jerusalem 
and also against the enemies of the people of God; he likewise 
refers to the salvation and the blessings which the preaching of 
the Gospel will bring to all nations. 

Obs. — It is Habakkuk from whom that saying proceeded, which 
has already exercised such vast influence: "The just shall live by his 
faith." (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1 : 17.) — Zephaniah refers to the Mes- 
sianic age in these words: " Then will I turn to the people a pure 
language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve 
him with one consent." (3 : 9.) 

2. Jeremiah, the son of the high priest Hilkiah, and, perhaps, 
the grand-son of the prophetess Huldah (compare 2 Kings 22 : 
14 with 1 Chron. 6 : 13), was very young when he was called to 
assume the prophetic office in the reign of Josiah ; the period of 
his labors extended beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. It was 
the lot of this gentle and tender-hearted man, not only to receive 
the commission to declare the severe judgments which awaited 
the degenerate people of Judah, but also to witness the infliction 
himself. He mournfully exclaimed: "Ah, Lord God! behold, 
I cannot speak : for I am a child." But the Lord answered : 
" Say not, I am a child : for thou shalt go to all that I shall send 
thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not 
afraid of their faces : for I am with thee to deliver thee." And 
the Lord put forth his hand, and touched his mouth, saying : 
" Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this 
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, 
and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build 
and to plant." He was, like Moses, a meek and afflicted man, 
and, like Elijah, he was hated and persecuted, without possessing 
the vigor and energy of the former, or the unyielding spirit of 
the latter. He encountered affliction and persecution in every 
direction ; but the wonderful support and consolation which he 
received from above, and his clear view of deliverance, both in 
the present and in remote times, fully sustained him, and made 
him " a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against 
the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes 
thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the 
land." (1 : 18.) — "0 Lord, thou hast deceived me," he says 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 241 

(20 : 7-11), "and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and 
hast prevailed : I am in derision daily. . . . Then I said, I will 
not .... speak any more in his name. But his word was in my 
heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary 
with forbearing, and I could not stay. . . . But the Lord is with 
me as a mighty terrible one." — Jeremiah is the John of the Old 
Testament (§ 131. 3, Obs.), easily moved, mild and tender, and, 
nevertheless, possessing a spirit which glows and burns when it 
is aroused. He was, on one occasion, so far misled by his excited 
feelings, as to curse the day wherein he was born. (20 : 14-18.) 
3. Jeremiah exhorted his people to yield quietly to the power 
of Babylon ; when his words were found to produce no effect, he 
announced the destruction of the holy city and the removal of 
the people to Babylon. Nevertheless, he comforted them also, 
and assured them that they should return after a captivity of 
seventy years. Nebuchadnezzar permitted him to select a place 
of residence, and he remained in the holy land. His deep and 
affectionate interest in the remnant of his people, whom he accom- 
panied to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah, urged him to ex- 
hort and comfort the unhappy fugitives in that country ; there 
also he encountered persecution^ and, according to an ancient tra- 
dition, ho was stoned to death. In his Lamentations he mourns 
for his people, as he surveys the ruins of the holy city, and while 
their misery distresses his soul, he exhorts them to repent. 

Obs. — The following prediction concerning Christ occurs in ch. 
33 : 14-17 : " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will per- 
form that good thing which I have promised unto the house of 
Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, 
will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David ; and 
he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those 
days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely : and 
this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Right- 
eousness. For thus saith the Lord : David 'shall never want a man 
to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel." 

§ 106. The Captives. — Ezekiel 

1. False prophets and deceivers appeared among the captives, 
who encouraged the perverse spirit with which the people bore 

21 



242 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the yoke of the Chaldeans that was laid upon them by God's 
judgment; they led the people astray by awakening delusive 
hopes in their hearts. When the tidings of these things reached 
Jeremiah, he availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the 
journey of certain ambassadors of Zedekiah to Babylon, and 
transmitted a letter to the captives. " Build ye houses/' he 
wrote in the name of the Lord, "and dwell in them; and plant 
gardens, and eat the fruit of them .... Seek the peaee of the 
city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and 
pray unto the Lord for it : for in the peace thereof shall ye have 
peace .... After seventy years shall be accomplished at Baby- 
lon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in 
causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts 
that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and 
not of evil, to give you an expected end" (ch. 29). 

2. While Jeremiah labored among those who had been left in 
the holy land, Ezekiel was similarly engaged among the captives 
by the river of Chebar (Chaboras, Habor, emptying into the 
Euphrates at Carchemish). He contended against the delusions 
propagated by false prophets, and against the carnal hopes and 
the impenitent mind of the captives. The features of his charac- 
ter are entirely different from those which predominate in Jere- 
miah ; he is ardent and impetuous, bold and glowing with zeal. 
His writings abound in sublime and mysterious visions. During 
the short period which preceded the actual destruction of the city 
of Jerusalem, the captives, deceived by their false prophets, enter- 
tained the hope of a speedy return to their country. This un- 
founded hope the prophet labored to expel from their bosoms, 
and announced both by his words and by his actions, by direct 
instructions and by symbols, that the destruction of the holy city 
was inevitable. When that catastrophe had really occurred, he 
comforted the dispirited people by indicating both a deliverance 
which was approaching, and also one which was still distant. 

BS . — The following predictions of Ezekiel refer to the times of 
the Messiah: "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall 
feed them, even my servant David ; he shall feed them, and he shall 
be their shepherd." (34 : 23.) " A new heart will I give you, and a 
new spirit will I put within you : and I will take away the stony 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. Zl6 

heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I 
will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, 
and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (36 : 26, 27.) The 
vision in ch. 37, of a valley full of dry bones which are restored to 
their former condition by the breath of God, is a description of the 
redemption of the people. (§ 119.) The sketch in ch. 40-48, derived 
from a prophetic vision, of a new temple, a new Jerusalem and a 
new division of the land, is remarkable in the highest degree. 

3. Great numbers of the captives were soon reconciled to the 
necessity of dwelling in a strange land ; their outward condition 
was so favorable, indeed, that many who were satisfied with mere 
external prosperity, ceased to long for their own home. Never- 
theless, those who were governed by more elevated sentiments, 
retained in their hearts an ardent desire to be restored to the 
land of their fathers, to the holy city, and to the courts of the 
Lord. These sentiments are expressed in impassioned language 
in the one hundred and thirty-seventh psalm : " By the rivers of 
Babylon, &c." The discipline of the Captivity produced abundant 
fruits ; the inclination of the Israelites to worship strange gods, 
which had previously been invincible, disappeared entirely, and 
was succeeded by a faithful and inflexible adherence to the Law 
of the fathers, which was, however, often characterized by for- 
mality and self-righteousness. 

§ 107. The Prophet Daniel 

1. Ch. 1-3. — Daniel was educated in Babylon, together with 
his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in the 
school of the Magians, and received the name of Belteshazzar. 
On a certain occasion, Nebuchadnezzar perceived that he had for- 
gotten a remarkable dream which had troubled his spirit ; as the 
magians whom he summoned, could not make known either the 
dream or the interpretation of it, the choleric king commands 
that they should all be put to death. Daniel asks that time should 
be given to him, prays to God, and reveals to the king both the 
dream and its interpretation. The king had beheld a great image 
with a head of gold, a breast of silver, a body of brass, legs of 
iron ; and feet part of iron and part of clay. A stone, cut out 



244 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

without hands, crushed the image and became itself a great 
mountain which filled the whole earth. According to Daniel's 
interpretation, the four great monarchies are here described ac- 
cording to their historical succession and their distinctive fea- 
tures : the Assyrio-Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grgeco- 
Macedonian and the Roman, — the latter in its Eastern and 
"Western divisions. The stone which crushed the image and 
filled the whole earth, indicated that " the God of heaven would 
set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed ; that this 
kingdom should not be left to other people, but that it should 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms; and that it 
should stand forever." Daniel is now appointed to be the master 
of the Magians, and ruler over the whole province of Babylon. 
Nebuchadnezzar soon afterwards caused an image of the god Bel 
to be made of gold and of a large size, which he commanded all 
to worship. Daniel's three friends, who refuse to obey, are con- 
demned to be cast into a burning furnace. The astonished king 
sees the three men walking in the midst of the fire uninjured, 
and accompanied by a fourth whose "form was like the Son of 
God." He now makes a decree that all should revere the God 
of these men. 

2. Ch. 4. — Nebuchadnezzar dreamed again. He saw a very 
great tree bearing much fruit, which, at the command of an 
angel, was cut down; his heart was changed from man's, a beast's 
heart was given to him, and, with a band of iron, he was in the 
midst of the grass of the field. Daniel thus interprets the dream : 
Thou, king, art that tree ; thou shalt be driven from men, and 
thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and thou shalt 
eat grass; then shall thy reason return to thee, and thy kingdom 
be restored. — All this came to pass. The king on a certain occa- 
sion stood on the pinnacle of his royal palace, and, deifying him- 
self in his pride, he uttered the presumptuous words : " Is not 
this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom 
by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ?" 
He was immediately seized with the lycanthropy, a species of 
madness, during the influence of which the individual believes 
himself to be a wild beast; his body was wet with the dew of 
heaven, and he did eat grass as oxen. Afterwards, he lifted up 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 245 

his eyes unto heaven, his understanding returned to him, he 
praised the Most High, and, by a decree which he made, he com- 
manded all his subjects to worship Him. 

3. Ch. 5. — During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshaz- 
zar (Evil-merodach), Daniel is neglected and forgotten. The king 
made a great feast, at which he profaned the sacred vessels of the 
temple (§ 104. 2). While he was drinking wine, a hand was 
seen on the wall of the banquet-chamber, which wrote certain 
illegible words. The queen-mother proposes that Daniel should * 
be called, who reads these words : mene, mene, tehel, upharsin, 
that is, numbered, numbered, weighed, divided, and refers them 
to the impending destruction proceeding from the Medo- Persian 
monarchy. The terrified king commanded that the prophet who 
predicted his ruin should be clothed with scarlet, and be pro- 
claimed as the third ruler in the kingdom — possibly, hoping to 
avert the threatened calamity by the adoption of these measures. 
But in that night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede took 
the kingdom. 

Obs. (See § 89. Obs. III.) — It is usual to assume that Belshazzar is 
Naboned, the last king of the Chaldeans, and that the night in which 
the writing was seen on the wall, is the same night in which Cyrus 
entered the city through the bed of the Euphrates, the waters of 
which he had diverted into another channel. But Naboned was a 
Babylonian, whose origin was obscure (ti$ ti*& ix Baj3v'kuvo$) ; he was, 
moreover, the fourth king after Nebuchadnezzar, while the latter 
was, according to Daniel 5 : 11, 13, 18, 22, immediately succeeded 
by Belshazzar his son. Consequently, Belshazzar is Evil-merodach, 
and Darius the Mede is Neriglissor. Darius was, according to ch. 
9 : 1, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes. As Cyaxares, 
the king of the Medes, is called Asuerus in the Greek accounts also, 
Darius is probably a son of Cyaxares, the brother of that Astyages, 
who found a place of refuge in the dominions of his father-in-law 
Nebuchadnezzar after the overthrow of the Median power. — Those 
who adopt the account which Xenophon gives, identify Darius with 
Cyaxares, whose general Cyrus was when he took Babylon. (See 
i 89. Obs. V.) 

4. Ch. 6. — Darius the Mede appointed Daniel to be the pre- 
sident over a third part of the kingdom. The envious courtiers 
persuade the aged and weak king to publish a decree that no one 

21* 



246 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of 
the king. Nevertheless, Daniel prayed and made supplication 
before his God, and Darius, who is bound by his own irrevocable 
decree, necessarily permits the prophet to be cast into the den of 
lions. Daniel's life is preserved, but his enemies are cast into the 
den, and destroyed by the lions. 

5. Ch. 7, &c. — Daniel afterwards had a new vision referring 
to the four great monarchies. Four great beasts come up from 
the sea, which is here the symbol of the restless or waving mass 
of human beings who constitute the different nations of the 
world; the Ancient of days appears, the judgment is set, and the 
books are opened. Then one like the Son of man came with the 
clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, and to him an everlast- 
ing kingdom was given. The seventy years of Jeremiah in the 
mean time expire, and Daniel, who observes the time, prays fer- 
vently to God. The angel Gabriel appears to him and conveys 
the following revelations : That at the beginning of his supplica- 
tions the commandment had come forth (permitting the captives 
to return, in the first year of the reign of Cyrus) — - that within 
seventy weeks of years, reckoned from the re-building of Jeru- 
salem, the Messiah would come, the transgression would be 
finished, an end of sins be made, reconciliation for iniquity be 
effected, and everlasting righteousness be brought in — and that 
then the Messiah would be cut off, and the people of the prince 
who should come, would destroy the city and the sanctuary (ch. 
9 : 23-27). — At a later period Gabriel informed him more fully 
of the history of the second and the third of the great monar- 
chies, and furnished specially the details respecting Antiochus 
Epiphanes, the type of Antichrist. 

Obs.— -Ezekiel (ch. 14 : 14, 16, 20 ; 28 : 3) classes Daniel with the 
righteous and wise Noah and Job. Christ himself calls him a pro- 
phet (Matt. 24 : 15). — He is called, and he really is, a man of desire 
(10 : 11, vir desiderii, " a man greatly beloved," Engl, vers.) ; it was 
his desire to witness the manifestation and the victory of the king- 
' dom of God. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 247 

§ 108. The Return of the Captives, and the Building of the 
Temple. — Ezra. — Nehemiali. — Esther. 

1. Ezra' 1-6. — The prophet Isaiah had called Cyrus the shep* 
herd and the anointed of the Lord (ch. 44 : 28 ; 45 : 1 ; comp. 
Jerem. 50 : 44) ; that monarch, who was appointed by the Spirit 
of the Lord to perform the work, gave permission to the captives 
to return, in the first year of his reign over Babylon, b. c. 536. 
A comparatively small number of the Jews, however, availed 
themselves of this permission ; the larger portion of the people 
preferred the comforts which they found in a strange land to the 
inconveniences which they would encounter in their original 
home. Prince Zerubbabel (Zorobabel, Matt. 1 : 12), a grand- 
son of Jehoiachin (1 Chron. 3 : 17-19), and the high-priest 
Jeshua or Joshua, conducted nearly 50,000 Jews, bearing 5400 
vessels of the house of the Lord, to Jerusalem, and actively en- 
gaged in the building of the temple. The Samaritans proposed 
to assist in the work ; but the newly-arrived colonists, taught by 
the experience of their fathers, declined the offer. The former 
sought revenge by circulating calumnies, which reached the ear 
of the king. The building of the temple was interrupted during 
the reign of Cambyses, and a strict prohibition to continue it was 
issued by Pseudo-Smerdes. Darius Hystaspis, however, after- 
wards gave the captives the royal permission to proceed, and 
afforded them aid. New zeal now animated the Jews, and, en- 
couraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they completed 
and consecrated the temple, b. c. 516. This second temple did 
not contain the ark of the covenant, which had probably been 
lost in the days of the last idolatrous kings of Judah, and the 
Holiest of all was a vacant place. 

2. Ezra 7, &c. — During the reign of Artaxerxes (probably 
Artaxerxes Longimanus) a second company of colonists proceeded 
to Jerusalem, b. c. 458, conducted by Ezra, a scribe in the law 
of Moses, and a descendant of Seraiah the high-priest. He 
earnestly exhorted the people to repent, commanded them to put 
away all pagan wives, and zealously instructed all in the Law. 

3. Nehem. 1, &c. — Thirteen years afterwards, Nehemiah, the 
cup-bearer of the same king, received tidings of the unhappy con- 



248 REDEMPTION AND SOLVATION. 

dition of the people ; he made a successful application to the king 
to be invested with the necessary powers, and then proceeded to 
Jerusalem. The building of the walls of Jerusalem . was com- 
menced with great vigor, but the offended Samaritans, led by 
Sanballat, attempted to interrupt the work by violence. While 
Nehemiah employed one half of the people as builders, and armed 
the other half, who served as guards, he also endeavored, with the 
assistance of Ezra, to confirm the confidence of the people in 
God. After the walls were completed, nine parts of the people 
removed to other cities, and the remaining, or tenth part, occu- 
pied Jerusalem. After having devoted twelve years to these 
labors, Nehemiah returned to Persia ; but, during the reign of 
Darius Nothus, he appears the second time as the governor of 
Jerusalem. He energetically corrected the abuses which had 
arisen during his absence ; even Manasseh, the son of the high- 
priest, who refused to put away his pagan wife, was driven away. 
Sanballat, his father-in-law, then built a temple on mount Ge- 
rizim ; Manasseh was the first high-priest, and reformed the Sa- 
maritan religion, which had hitherto been, to a considerable 
extent, a species of paganism. 

Obs. — No well-founded doubts can be entertained respecting the 
fact that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written by the men 
whose names they respectively bear. 

4. The book of Esther contains a supplement to the history 
of the Israelites during their connection with Persia. Ahasu- 
erus (Xerxes) repudiates his wife Vashti for refusing to present 
herself before him and the court during a season of revelry, 
when large quantities of wine had been consumed by the king 
and his nobles. Esther, a Jewish orphan, is chosen as queen in 
her place. Her kinsman, Mordecai, renders an important service 
to the king by conveying information of a conspiracy against 
him, the object of which was to destroy his life. When Mordecai 
refused to bow and reverence the Amalekite Hainan, the king's 
favorite, the latter obtained a royal decree, commanding that all 
the Jews in the kingdom should be put to death on a certain day 
designated by lot. Esther, impelled by the urgent terms em- 
ployed by Mordecai in his request to her, ventures to present her 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 249 

self to the king, without having been called by him : she is gra- 
ciously received, and solicits the king to come with Haman to the 
banquet which she had prepared. In the mean time, the king, 
who could not sleep on*that night, is reminded by the royal 
records which are read before him, that the services of Mordecai 
had not been rewarded. Haman, who had devised a fantastic 
mode of doing honor to a man esteemed by the king, is com- 
pelled, in place of receiving the homage which he expected, to 
execute the whole plan himself in favor of his deadly enemy, for 
whom he had already erected a gallows in the court of his house. 
At the banquet, Esther discloses his purposes to the king, and he 
is immediately hanged on the gallows which he had prepared for 
Mordecai. As the Persian king was not permitted to recall a 
decree, he granted permission to the Jews to defend themselves, 
and to destroy their enemies. In commemoration of this great 
deliverance, the festival of Purim (that is, lots), was instituted. 

Obs. — The book of Esther was probably written in the same age 
in which the events occurred which it records. The attempts already 
made to ascertain the name of the author have been altogether un- 
successful. 

§ 109. The Prophets who appeared after the Return from Baby- 
lon. (Haggai, Zechariah, 3Ialachi.) 

1. Haggai encourages the people to engage with zeal in the 
building of the temple, and comforts the aged Jews who had in 
early life seen the temple of Solomon, and who mourned and 
wept when they beheld the inferiority of the new building; he 
announces that this is the temple in which the Messiah shall 
appear. 

Obs. — Both when the tabernacle and also when the first tempk 
was consecrated, the prefigurative glory of the Lord in a cloud filled 
the place (Exodus 40 : 34; 1 Kings 8 : 11). This manifestation was 
not granted when the second temple was consecrated ; in place of it, 
however, it was appointed by the Lord that the archetypal or original 
Shechinah, the true and essential glory of the Lord, Ckrist, in whom 
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2 : 9), should 
appear in that temple. To this event the prediction of Haggai 



250 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

refers : " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the 
former" (2 : 9), for "the Desire of all nations (Gentiles) shall come" 
into it (verse 7). 

2. Zechariah abounds, like Ezekiel, in apocalyptical visions of 
the last days, and, like Isaiah, furnishes many descriptions of the 
humiliation and the sufferings of the Messiah. 

Gbs. — He says: "Behold the man whose name is the Branch; 
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple 
of the Lord ; even he shall build the temple of the Lord ; and he 
shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne ; and he 
shall be a priest upon his throne" (6 : 12, 13). — He prophesies (8 : 
22), that in the days of the Messiah, "many people and strong na- 
tions shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray 
before the Lord." He describes (9 : 9) the peaceful and humble 
approach of the Messiah to the city: "Rejoice greatly, daughter 
of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh 
unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon 
an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." The covenant made for 
thirty pieces of silver, the casting down of the money in the temple, 
and the purchase of the potter's field are described in 11 : 12-14. — 
The following predictions also occur : " I will pour out upon the 
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of 
grace and of supplications : and they shall look upon me whom they 
have pierced" (12 : 10). — "In that day there shall be a fountain 
opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for 
sin and for uncleanness" (13 : 1). — "Awake, sword, against my 
Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
hosts : smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered : and I 
will turn my hand upon the little ones" (13 : 7). 

3. Malachi is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament; 
he appeared as a prophet in the days of Nehemiah. He foretold 
that the arrival of the Messiah would occur while the second 
temple stood, and described his forerunner. 

Obs. — God gives the promise ; " Behold, I will send my messen- 
ger, and he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord, whom 
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of 
the covenant, whom ye delight in" (3 : 1). — "Unto you that fear 
my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his 
wings" (4 : 2). — Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 251 

the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall 
turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the 
children to their fathers" (4 : 5, G). 

§ 110. Ecclesiastes. 

The book which bears the name of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher 
(Koheleth), and is placed among the writings of Solomon, was 
probably written at a later day than the other books of the Old 
Testament; the period which followed the Captivity is indicated 
by the language and style, the peculiar sentiments and the general 
character and contents of the book. The name of the author can- 
not be ascertained. It is an error to suppose that he professes 
to be king Solomon himself; it is, rather, his purpose to intro- 
duce the reader, by means of poetic imagery, to an assembly in 
which the wise Solomon (as the representative of wisdom and 
the author of the proverbial mode of instruction) expresses his 
views respecting the problems of this life. The book resembles 
the Proverbs of Solomon in the form which it assumes, but the 
contents bear an affinity to those of the book of Job, since both 
attempt to solve those problems. The poet derives his materials 
from his experience of the vanity of all earthly efforts and designs, 
and from their opposition to the true conception of an unchange- 
ably holy, good and just order of the world. He finds, on the one 
hand, in the fleeting nature and the vanity of life on earth an en- 
couragement given to man to enjoy the pleasures and the goods 
of the world which God bestows, with gratitude, cheerfulness and 
contentment; he points, on the other hand, to the divine govern- 
ment of the world which overlooks no details, and to the divine 
justice which is retributive in every instance ; thus he confines 
this enjoyment of life within the limits of righteousness and the 
fear of God, in order that it may not degenerate into levity and 
impiety. The writer's views are still restricted within the nar- 
row bounds of the declarations of the law in the Old Testament 
respecting retribution, death and the Scheol (§ 36. 2, Obs.); 
nevertheless, the problems of this life, and their inconsistency 
with the conception of a divine government of the world, so 
forcibly impress his mind, that he is compelled to pass beyond 



252 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the limits to which he had been confined ; thus, as he proceeds 
onward, his doubts, his uncertainty, his own reflections and an 
inward impulse combine to awaken the presentiment, and, indeed, 
to give him the assurance that all these problems and the contra- 
dictions which they involve, will be finally solved and fully ex- 
plained in the judgment, or in the retribution and adjustment of 
an endless life beyond the grave. — Hence, the result of the rea- 
soning of the book, is the inevitable conviction, proceeding from 
a continued development, that the religious views of the Old 
Testament at the point which it has reached are not absolutely 
complete and satisfactory. The book thus gives birth to a longing 
after a higher revelation, and, pervaded by a peculiar presenti- 
ment, bends forward towards that light which has arisen for us 
in its full splendor through the resurrection of Christ. The 
writer performed the same work negatively, which the prophets 
performed positively when they uttered their Messianic predic- 
tions—both facilitated the transition from the old to the new 
covenant by exhibiting the incompleteness of the religious know- 
ledge of their day; it is, indeed, this feature which renders the 
book eminently important. It is characterized by an elevated 
moral and religious earnestness; its sayings are entitled to the 
same appellation which it gives to the words of the wise (ch. 12 : 
11) — they are " goads and nails" with which those who are 
mere children in wisdom and understanding are not permitted to 
sport. 

§ 111. The Canon of the Old Testament. 

The sacred writings of the Old Testament were first collected, 
as it is highly probable, by Ezra and Nehemiah (JSTeh. 8 : 1-10; 
2 Mace. 2 : 13). After Prophecy had ceased under the old 
covenant with Malachi, and the civil polity was re-organized in 
conformity to the revelations of God in the Law and the Prophets, 
the want was deeply felt of such a collection of sacred writings 
containing divine revelations, as would possess an ecclesiastical 
sanction. It is, however, still a contested point whether the col- 
lection of these sacred writings was entirely completed and closed 
already in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah ; many weighty con- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 253 

siderations seem to decide the question in the affirmative. Accord- 
ing to a Jewish tradition, Ezra, assisted by the so-called Great 
Synagogue, consisting of 120 members, over whom he presided, 
arranged and completed the collection. In the Prologue of the 
(apocryphal) book of Jesus the son of Sirach, or, Ecclesiasticus, 
the whole collection is represented as one that is already com- 
plete ; and the fact is well-known that in the days of Christ it was 
regarded as firmly established, and that it was acknowledged and 
quoted by him and the apostles, as the Word of God (see Matt. 
1 : 22; 5 : 17, 18 ; 22 : 43 3 Acts 1 : 16 ; 13 : 34, 35 5 28 : 
25; Rom. 1 : 2; 3 : 2; Heb. 1 : 1; 10 : 15; 2 Tim. 3 : 15, 
16; 1 Pet. Is II j 2 Pet. 1 : 21. — § 186, Obs. 1). 

Oes. — The complete collection of the sacred writings is called the 
Canon, (that is, measure, ride), because these constitute the rule of 
all religious faith and practice. — The Old Testament contains the 
following documents : 1. Those relating, to the foundation of the old 
covenant: the five books of Moses. — 2. Those relating to the history 
of the old covenant: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chroni- 
cles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. — 3. Those relating to the religious 
life of the people of the old covenant: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Eccle- 
siastes, Song of Solomon. — 4. Those relating to Prophecy in the old 
covenant: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel — Hosea, Joel, 
Amos, Obadiah — Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk — Zephaniah, 
Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi. — The Hebrew Bible adopts the follow- 
ing arrangement: 1. The Law, or the Torah. 2. The early pro- 
phets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings. 3. The later prophets : all 
from Isaiah to Malachi, excepting the Lamentations and Daniel. 
4. The Ketubim or Hagiographa : Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of 
Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, 
Nehemiah, Chronicles. 



22 



254 KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 



SEVENTH PERIOD. 

FROM THE CESSATION OF PROPHECY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT TO 
ITS FULFILMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

(A period embracing about four centuries.) 

§ 112. Characteristic Features of this period. — {The Apocrypha.) 

1. During a period of more than 400 years, extending from 
Malachi to John the Baptist, concerning whom the former pro- 
phesied, the voice of Prophecy was not heard; the appearance 
of a true prophet (rcpo^-t^ TtLoto? "a faithful prophet/' 1 Mac. 
14 : 41) was most earnestly desired. The chosen people, after 
having received the instructions and been subjected to the dis- 
cipline appropriate to the season of youth, had attained a mature 
age ; the task was now imposed on them of proceeding onward 
without the advantage of receiving special directions and aid in 
all cases, and of producing evidences of the degree to which 
they had been benefited by their past experience and knowledge. 
The laws of Moses and the predictions of the prophets were 
adapted to be both a light unto their path, and a staff in their 
hands — by these they were effectually secured against the de- 
structive influences of heathenism. After this deadly foe had 
been subdued and the struggle had terminated, the people were 
once more placed in possession of political independence, in order 
that they might perform their appointed task without meeting 
with obstacles in any direction. The present period is also re- 
markable as constituting Israel's missionary age. It was a judg- 
ment inflicted upon the chosen people of God when they were 
carried away captive to a heathen land; but, according to the 
course which God frequently adopts, this judgment was attended 
with gracious gifts, of which, in the present case, pagans were 
the recipients. It was designed that a knowledge of Israel's 
faith and Israel's hopes should be imparted to the latter, and that 
an avenue to salvation in Christ should be opened to them also. 
Thus, too, even the hesitation of the Israelites to leave the land 
of captivity, although not proceeding from worthy motives (§ 108. 
1), was rendered subservient to the divine plan of salvation. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 255 

And even if Israel did not understand this great call to engage 
in missionary efforts, nevertheless, its object was attained through 
the circumstance that the dispersed Jews erected Synagogues in 
all places, in which the Law and the Prophets were read and ex* 
pounded, and that free access to the services was granted to the 
heathen. 

2. The results of the rigorous discipline of the Captivity were 
salutary in other respects. Not only did every trace of the 
former tendency of the Israelites to adopt pagan customs and in- 
troduce idolatry, disappear, but the latter were henceforth regarded 
with detestation. Nevertheless, other tendencies were gradually 
developed in the character of the people, which ultimately not 
only led them to reject the great salvation that had been promised, 
and for which preparations had been made during a period of 
4000 years, but also influenced them to deny and to kill the Holy 
One and the Just. (Acts 3 : 14, 15.) These characteristic features 
were, on the one hand, an untheocratic seclusion or reserve, an 
inflated national pride, irrational and carnal Messianic hopes, a 
frantic reliance on their own works and their own righteousness, 
and a foolish inclination to overrate trivial acts and undervalue 
weighty matters (Matt. 23 : 23, 24) ; they were seen, on the 
other hand, in that Sadducean unbelief which treated the precious 
promises and hopes of the fathers with mockery alone. (§ 115.) 
But while the mass of the people were thus ripening for final 
destruction, all true Israelites steadily beheld these promises, sin- 
cerely hoped for their fulfilment, and found deliverance and salva- 
tion in the Saviour who appeared on earth. 

Obs. — The author whose writings constitute the chief source 
whence the history of this period is derived, is the Jewish historian 
Josephus ; materials are also occasionally furnished by the Apo- 
crypha and by Greek and Roman writers of profane history. As the 
gift of prophecy was now withdrawn, the writings which originated 
during this period among the people of the covenant, cannot be re- 
garded as the Word of God. They are accordingly called the 
Apocrypha, that is, concealed writings, because they cannot, like the 
writings of the prophets, be placed on the candlestick of the Church, 
and serve as an infallible divine light unto our path. They were, 
however, written by devout and enlightened men of the old covenant, 



256 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

and, therefore, they may be read with advantage, as Luther says, 
although they are not free from error ; as sources of history, and as 
witnesses of the religious views of their age, they are worthy of 
great esteem. The following belong to the collection : — 1. The book 
of Judith; the history of a devout Jewish widow, who by her courage 
delivered Bethulia, when it was besieged by Holofernes, who is 
styled the chief captain of Nabuchodonosor. (g 103. 2, Obs.) — 2. 
The Wisdom of Solomon ; an imitation of Solomon's Proverbs, by 
an author whose name is unknown. — 3. The book of Tobit; the 
history of a devout Jew, a captive of the Assyrians (§ 102. 2, Obs. 
2) ; descriptive of the blessings which flow from the religious educa- 
tion of children. — 4. The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or 
Ecclesiasticus ; it contains many wise and excellent sayings resem- 
bling Solomon's Proverbs. — 5. The book of Baruch ; it contains 
exhortations addressed to the people in reference to the Babylonian 
captivity ; Baruch appears as a cotemporary of Jeremiah in chap- 
ters 32, 36, 43 and 45 of that prophet. — 6. Two books of the Mac- 
cabees; the contents are of an historical character. (g 114.) — 7. The 
rest of the chapters of the book of Esther ; a supplement to the ca- 
nonical book. — 8. The history of Susanna, the history of the de- 
struction of Bel and the Dragon in Babylon, the Song of the three 
holy children in the furnace ; these portions are all supplementary 
to the history of Daniel. — -9. The Prayer of Manasses. (§ 103. 2.) — 
Josephus, the Jewish historian, was the son of a Jewish priest, and 
during the war with the Romans (g 117), commanded a portion of 
the Jewish forces. He wrote a history of that war, as well as a his- 
tory of the Jews, extending to the reign of Nero ; the latter work 
bears the title of " Jewish Antiquities." 

§ 113. The Jews and the third Great Monarchy. 

1. Alexander the Great, whom. Daniel had seen in his visions 
(ch. 8), as a he-goat, advancing with such impetuosity that he 
touched not the ground, had been delayed seven months in his 
rapid and victorious career, by the siege of Tyre. During the 
siege, he sent to Samaria and Judea, and required the people to 
furnish him with additional troops, and supplies of food. Samaria 
was willing to obey, but Jaddua, the high-priest, who had sworn 
fealty to the Persians, refused to furnish the required aid. After 
the fall of Tyre, Alexander proceeded, as Josephus relates, to 
Jerusalem, thirsting for revenge. The people fasted and prayed j 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 257 

the high-priest, clad in his pontifical robes, and the priests and 
Levites in white attire, formed a solemn procession, and marched 
forth to meet the conqueror. Alexander's wrath was instantly 
appeased ; he kindly saluted the high-priest, gave him his hand, 
and adored the name of Jehovah inscribed on the plate of gold 
which was attached to the diadem of the high-priest. He ex- 
plained to his attendants that a man similarly apparelled had ap- 
peared to him in Macedonia in a dream, announcing that his God 
had given to him (Alexander) dominion over all Asia. — Alexan- 
der entered the city of Jerusalem in peace, offered sacrifice, read 
Daniel's predictions respecting himself, and departed after grant- 
ing valuable privileges to the city. 

Obs. — Alexander occupies a very important position in the his- 
tory of the development of the kingdom of God. He made Alexan- 
dria the centre of the commerce of the world, and the source of a 
new period of the culture of the human mind; it combined in amity 
the energies both of oriental and occidental nations. The numerous 
colonies which were founded, and the active trade which prevailed, 
maintained a very intimate intercourse of these nations with each 
other. The Greek language became the language of the world. Thus 
it was through the course which Alexander pursued that the fulfil- 
ment of the conditions approached, on which depended the speedy 
extension to all parts of the world of that salvation which was pre- 
pared for all people in the seed of Abraham. 

2. After the death of Alexander, b. c. 323, Palestine came 
into the possession of Laomedon, one of his generals; but it was 
soon afterwards, B. c. 320, wrested from him by Ptolemy Lagi. 
As Onias II., the high-priest, had resolved to adhere faithfully to 
Laomedon, Ptolemy attacked Jerusalem on a Sabbath-day, and 
took the city without meeting with resistance; political consi- 
derations, however, induced him to treat the Jews with great 
gentleness and humanity. He removed 100,000 Jews to Egypt, 
and granted them the same rights which the Macedonians 
enjoyed. He frequently employed them, on account of their 
approved fidelity, when he garrisoned fortified places. In the 
year b. C. 314, Antigonus took possession of Palestine, but, after 
he lost his life in a battle near the city of Ipsus, the country 
reverted to the Ptolemies, and remained a hundred years in their 
22* 



258 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

power. During this period, the condition of the Jews was 
peaceful and happy. It was only towards the close of the do- 
minion of the Ptolemies that the circumstances of the Jews again 
assumed an unfavorable character. 

Obs. — The highest tribunal in Jerusalem was the Great Council 
(Synedrium or Sanhedrin), composed of seventy members, who de- 
cided all causes according to the laws of the fathers, and had the 
right of judging in capital cases. — As all monarchs endeavored 
to induce the Jews to settle in their new colonies by granting to 
these the most valuable privileges, the latter were gradually dis- 
persed over the whole world. They built Synagogues in all places, 
and in these, pagans found an opportunity to become acquainted 
with Israel's faith and hopes. The Greek language gradually be- 
came the native language of the scattered Jews (the Jews of the 
diaspora or dispersion), who derived the name of Hellenists from 
that circumstance, and formed a connecting link between Judaism 
and heathenism. Hence the want of a Greek version of the Old Tes- 
tament was felt. Ptolemy Philadelphus is said to have caused this 
translation to be made for the large library which he had recently 
founded ; it derives its name, Septuagint (that is, seventy interpre- 
ters), or simply, the LXX, according to an old legendary tale, from 
the circumstance that 72 scribes from the city of Jerusalem, confined 
in separate cells in the island of Pharos, translated the Hebrew 
Scriptures, and that their respective translations agreed word for 
word! — During the reign of Philometor, b. c. 180-145, Onias the 
priest, who had emigrated to Egypt, even built a temple in Leonto- 
polis in Egypt, according to the model of the temple of Jerusalem, 
but of smaller proportions ; it was destroyed by the Romans during 
the reign of the emperor Yespasian. 

3. Antiochus the Great of Syria took possession of Palestine 
by force in the year b. c. 203 • after the possession of the country 
had, during several decades of years, been contested by the Ptole- 
mies and the Seleucidae respectively, the latter finally prevailed. 
Antiochus also granted the Jews many privileges, and amply 
secured their religious liberty. His son and successor, however, 
Seleucus Philopator, caused the temple of Jerusalem to be plun- 
dered (2 Mace. ch. 3), for the purpose of obtaining money, and 
his successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, was guilty of unexampled 
cruelties in attempting to compel the Jews to adopt the customs 
and the religion of the Greeks. He conquered Jerusalem in the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 259 

year 1G9 b. c. In consequence of the obstinate resistance of the 
Jews, the Syrians committed ravages of the most terrible charac- 
ter. The city and the temple were plundered, the walls of the 
city were cast down, the temple was profaned and dedicated to 
Jupiter Olyrnpius, the sacred writings were torn and burnt, and 
every imaginable mode of torture was applied for the purpose of 
compelling the Jews to renounce the religion and the customs of 
their fathers — these attempts were, however, in most cases, 
made in vain. This was the abomination of desolation in the 
holy place, spoken of by Daniel (ch. 11 : 31) — a type of another 
desolation that still belonged to the future (Matt. 24 : 15). 

§ 114. The Maccabees, or Asmoneans. 

At this period of general distress, the means of deliverance 
were found to be the faith and courage of the priest Mattathias 
and of his five sons in Modin, in the mountains of Judah. He 
was brought forward by the audacity of a Jew, who offered sacri- 
fice to an idol in his presence, and whom he slew. A number of 
bold men, who entertained his own sentiments, gathered around 
him ) while these declined a pitched battle, they made incursions 
to all parts of the country, and thus inflicted serious injuries on 
the Syrian garrison. After the death of the father, b. c. 166, 
tbe oldest son, Judas Maccabee, who was bold and ardent like a 
young lion, succeeded, after a rapid and victorious career, in ex- 
pelling the Syrians, and restoring divine worship in the temple, 
B. c. 165. The feast of the Dedication of the temple (John 10 : 
22) was instituted for the purpose of commemorating the event. 
When he was again assailed, he applied to the Romans whose 
alliance he solicited, but, in place of substantial aid, he received 
promises alone from them. After that act, the blessing of God 
seemed to depart from him; he was totally defeated by the 
Syrians, and lost bis life, B.C. 161. He was succeeded by his 
brother Jonathan, who was assassinated, B. c. 143. The third 
brother, Simon, favored by the disorders of the time, at length 
succeeded in taking the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, b. c. 141, 
which had been hitherto occupied by the Syrians, and in securing 
for his people an independence which was no longer assailed ; and 



260 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

which even the Syrians recognized. The grateful people now 
invested, B. C. 140, his family with the hereditary dignity of both 
a prince and a high-priest, " until there should arise a faithful 
prophet" (1 Mace. 14 : 41). Simon was slain by Syrian assas- 
sins in the year B. C. 135. His son and successor, John Hyr- 
canus, conquered Samaria and Galilee, and destroyed the temple 
on mount Gerizim. He next subdued the Edomites or Idumeans, 
and compelled them to unite with the Jewish people by receiving 
the rite of circumcision. His son Aristobulus assumed the title 
of king in b. c. 106. After this period, the history of the Macca- 
bees presents nothing else but a succession of disgraceful cabals 
and sanguinary family quarrels. 

Obs. — The name of the Asmoneans is said to be derived from Asa- 
monaeus, the great-grandfather of Mattathias. They obtained the 
name of Maccabees from Judas Maccabee (Makkabi) who himself 
received the latter appellation (Makkab, equivalent to the word 
hammer) on account of his energetic and heroic deeds ; the name of 
Charles Martel, the grand-father of Charlemagne, is analogous. Ac- 
cording to another, but less probable, explanation, the name of 
Makkabi was inscribed on the ensigns of the Maccabees, and was 
formed by simply placing together the initial letters of the Hebrew 
words : Mi Kamokah Baalim lehovah, that is : " Who is like unto 
thee, Lord, among the gods ?" (Exod. 15 : 11.) 

§ 115. The Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. 

1. After the voice of Prophecy had ceased to be heard, the 
Jews guarded with special care the treasure of the sacred writ- 
ings containing the predictions already given — u the Law and 
the prophets." These were rightly regarded as the Canon or rule 
of all religious knowledge and practice. A particular class of 
men was gradually formed who devoted themselves exclusively to 
the study of the sacred Scriptures, and to the instruction of the 
people therein ; the title of honor which they received was that 
of Scribes. At a later period they claimed the honorable appel- 
lation of Rabbi, that is, Master. The anxiety of the Jews to 
maintain a correct understanding of the Scriptures, and to close 
every avenue to any novel interpretation, soon led to the forma- 
tion of an established and traditional mode of interpretation, the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 261 

origin of which they endeavored to refer to Ezra, and even to 
Moses. In the same manner, the solicitude and conscientiousness 
with which they watched over the strictest and most precise ob- 
servance of the religious ceremonies of the Law, led to increased 
exactions, which were added as a part of that Law. The Mosaic 
law was, unquestionably, a wall of partition, designed to preserve 
Israel from the influence of pagan customs and modes of worship. 
But the Jews gradually adopted the opinion that it was necessary 
to protect this wall of partition, consisting of the commands of 
God, by another wall of partition, consisting of traditions ; they 
confined their attention more and more to the external works of 
the law, and followed a path which necessarily conducted to the 
extinction of the spirit of the law. The Scribes displayed as 
much zeal in maintaining the observance of these traditions of 
the fathers, as of the written Word of God. — The distance of 
the places of residence of many Jews from the temple, and the 
want of public instructions which was experienced, led to the 
establishment of Synagogues; these were the places henceforth 
appropriated to the public devotions of the people. The Jews 
assembled in them on Sabbath-days and on the festivals appointed 
by their religion; they united in offering prayer and were edified 
by hearing the Word of God, which the scribes read, explained 
and discussed. The service of the temple suffered no detriment 
in consequence of this institution, as all the religious acts which 
essentially belonged to the direct public worship (cultus), con- 
tinued to be performed in the temple alone. 

2. The true representatives of this tendency to observe the 
traditions were the Pharisees, a sect, partly political and partly 
religious, whose origin is involved in obscurity. The Hebrew 
word from which their name is derived, designates them as per- 
sons separated from others and righteous, distinguished from 
others by superior sanctity. During the reign of the later Mac- 
cabean princes, whose religious character gradually receded from 
the view as their political position acquired greater prominence, 
the Pharisees formed a party in opposition to them ; the influence 
of the latter was felt the more sensibly, as they governed the 
mass of the people with undisputed authority, and constituted 
the majority in the Sanhedrin. They earnestly resisted every 



262 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

violation of the Law and of the institutions and traditions of the 
fathers, and were often successful ; but they wandered further 
and further from the true path, relied on outward works, affected 
uncommon sanctity, and became hypocrites. Such were their 
characteristic features pre-eminently, at the time when the Sa- 
viour appeared. The sect, nevertheless, even in that day, in- 
cluded many devout and upright men, and even many indiscreet 
zealots among them were honest and sincere, although their zeal 
might not be according to knowledge. The Sadducees, who 
formed a party in opposition to the Pharisees, exerted their in- 
fluence chiefly among men of rank and wealth. They regarded 
a certain scribe, named Saddok, from whom their name is de- 
rived, as the founder of their sect. The Pharisees attached, in 
their teaching and their mode of life, the highest importance to 
the traditions and commandments of the fathers, and assigned a 
prominent position to the doctrine of the existence of higher 
spirits (angels and demons), as well as to the doctrines of the 
immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, the judg- 
ment and a retribution, according to the Scriptures. In opposi- 
tion to them, the Sadducees rejected all the traditions, positively 
denied the existence of angels and demons, and combated the 
doctrines of immortality, of a resurrection and of an eternal 
retribution. 

Obs. — A third religious sect which existed at this period among 
the Jews, called the Essenes, is not mentioned in the Bible. Their 
origin, as well as their precise views, are both involved in obscurity. 
They were a species of Jewish anchorets, secluded themselves from 
the world, observed a community of goods, refrained from marriage, 
took no oath, &c. 

§ 116. The Herodian Family. 

Obs. — The following genealogical table contains the names of 
those members of the family, who are mentioned below. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 263 



Antipas, Governor of Idumea, 
Antipater, Procurator of Judea, 



Herod the Great, 
I 



I I I I I 

Alexander and Aristobulus ; — Archelaus and Antipas ; — Philip, 



I I 

Herod Agrippa I., Herodias, 

I i I 

Herod Agrippa II., Berenice, Drusilla. 

1. While internal disputes, jealousy, and a thirst for kindred 
blood, ravaged the princely family of the Asmoneans, the snares 
which others laid for them, and the treachery to which they were 
exposed, combined to accomplish their ruin. Hyrcanus and 
Aristobulus, the grand-sons of Aristobulus (§ 114), contended 
with each other for the sovereignty. Both appeared in Damascus 
before Pompey, the Eoman general, and submitted the decision 
to him. The latter promised to come to Jerusalem, but Aristo- 
bulus, who entertained serious apprehensions, put the country in 
a state of defence. Pompey took possession of Jerusalem on the 
sabbath, threw down the walls, entered the temple, but left all 
untouched, and nominated Hyrcanus as prince and high-priest. 
Aristobulus was taken prisoner, and adorned the triumphal pro- 
cession of Pompey. The weak and indolent Hyrcanus II. per- 
mitted the artful Idumean, Antipater, to administer the affairs of 
the country. The latter was subsequently appointed procurator 
of Judea by Caesar, who allowed Hyrcanus to retain merely the 
dignity of high-priest. Antigonus, the nephew of the latter, 
seized Jerusalem with the assistance of the Parthians, and dis- 
qualified his uncle for the office of high-priest, by the mutilation 
of his ears. Antipater had been previously poisoned, but his 
son Herod, who escaped, reached the city of Home, where, in the 
year B. C. 40, the senate, at the instance of Antony and Octavius, 
solemnly appointed him the king of Judea. But he was vigor- 
ously opposed by Antigonus, and two years passed before he was 
able to conquer Jerusalem. The life of Antigonus was termi- 
nated in Rome by the axe of the lictor. The marriage of Herod 
with Mariamne, the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus, was designed 



264 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to endow Herod, in a certain degree, with a lawful title to the 
throne, in the eyes of the people. He established his power 
firmly, after the commission of unparalleled barbarities. His 
suspicions and thirst for blood urged him to extirpate the whole 
race of the Maccabees By his directions, the father and the 
grand-father of Mariamne were executed, her brother was put to 
death while he was bathing, and both she and her mother Alex- 
andra died under the axe of the executioner. Even his two 
sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, the children of Mariamne, did 
not escape his suspicions, but were also put to death. The efforts 
which he made to relieve the general distress in Judea during 
the prevalence of a famine, although characterized by wisdom 
and disinterestedness, could not appease the hatred of the people. 
For the purpose of indulging his love of display and his taste for 
building, as well as of soothing the people in some measure, he 
began to repair the temple, and continued the work with the 
utmost prodigality. During the last years of his reign, the Sa- 
viour of the world was born ; a man like Herod could not receive 
the tidings of this event otherwise than by issuing commands 
which were fulfilled in the horrible massacre of the children of 
Bethlehem. He soon afterwards died of a malady which caused 
his body to putrefy before life was extinct — an object of loathing 
to himself and to all who approached him. 

2. The kingdom was divided among his sons. Archelaus ob- 
tained Judea, Samaria and Idumea, with the title of Ethnarch ; 
Herod Antipas obtained Galilee and Peraea, with the title of 
Tetrarch ; the north-eastern portion of the country, beyond the 
Jordan, with the same title, was assigned to Philip. — Archelaus 
imitated the evil practices of his father ; after a tyrannical reign 
of ten years, charges were brought against him in Rome by his 
subjects, and he was banished, by Augustus, to Yienne, in Gaul. 
His territories were attached to Syria, and were governed by 
Roman procurators, who resided in Csesarea (a town on the coast 
of the Mediterranean sea, with a fine harbor, constructed by 
Herod the Great), and were present in Jerusalem only when the 
Jewish festivals were observed. Pilate was the fifth of the pro- 
curators. Philip, who was far more just and humane than his 
brothers, disd without issue, 33 years after the birth of Christ, 



REDEMPTION AND SxiLVATION. 265 

and his tetrarchate was annexed to the province of Syria by Ti- 
berius. Herod Antipas, the adulterous murderer of John the 
Baptist, was banished to Gaul by Caligula, in the year 39 (A. D.) 
3. Another branch of the Herodian family remained, repre- 
sented by Herod Agrippa I., the son of Aristobulus, who had 
been executed, and a grandson of Herod and Mariamne. He 
resided in Kome, as an intimate friend of Caligula, the successor 
of Tiberius, who granted to him, immediately after his own acces- 
sion, the inheritance of Philip, which had already been annexed 
to Syria by Tiberius, and conferred on him the title of King. 
Herod Antipas came to Rome for the purpose of soliciting the 
emperor to bestow the name of king upon him likewise ; he was, 
however, deposed, through the influence of Agrippa, and banished 
to Gaul ) his territory was assigned to Agrippa. — After the death 
of Caligula, Agrippa rendered himself so acceptable to Claudius, 
that the latter granted him, in addition, the territories which had 
formerly belonged to Archelaus, so that, in the year 41 (a. d.) he 
ruled over the whole of Palestine. For the purpose of attaching 
the Jews to himself, he persecuted the Christians, killed James, 
and proceeded to take Peter also. (Acts 12 : 1-3.) On a certain 
occasion, when he appeared before a large assembly, the people, 
in conformity to a pagan custom, saluted him as a god; he was 
smitten by the Lord, and a horrible death closed his career, 44 
(A. D.) His son, Agrippa II., was only seventeen years old, when 
this event occurred. Claudius consequently annexed the whole 
of Palestine to Syria, and it was only in the year 53 (a.d.) that 
he granted to Agrippa a portion of his father's kingdom in the 
north-east. It was before him that the apostle Paul spoke. (Acts 
26.) When the Jewish state fell, his dominions were left undis- 
turbed. He died in the third year of the reign of Trajan, after 
having reigned 51 years. 

§ 117. The Roman Procurators, and the Destruction of \ 
Jerusalem. 

1. After the death of Herod Agrippa I., in the year 44 (A.D.), 
the whole country was again governed by Roman procurators 
residing in Cesarea, with the exception of the north-eastern pro- 
23 



266 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

vinces, which were assigned to Agrippa II. , in 53 (a.d.) Felix, 
before whom Paul appeared, was the fourth of these procurators ; 
he was characterized by shameless rapacity, and committed many 
acts of violence. He was succeeded by Festus in 60 (a.d.) A1- 
binus followed him, and he himself was succeeded by Gessius 
Florus — each surpassing his predecessor in rapacity and violence. 
Gessius even studiously endeavored to produce an insurrection 
among the Jews by his acts of oppression, in order that no accu- 
sations against himself might receive attention in Rome. In 66 
(a.d.), a protracted contest between the Jews and the Greeks of 
Cesarea, that had often led to bloodshed, was terminated at length 
by an imperial edict of Nero, which condemned the Jews to lose 
the rights of Roman citizens ; in consequence of this decision, 
the heathen populace drove the Jews from the city, at the same 
time that Gessius was robbing and butchering the people in Jeru- 
salem with unsparing barbarity. Under these circumstances, the 
Jews openly rebelled, and king Agrippa II., who came himself 
to Jerusalem, in vain attempted to calm their excited minds. 

2. Cestius Gallus, the procurator of Syria, attempted to sup- 
press the revolt by inflicting a decisive blow. He appeared be- 
fore Jerusalem with a well-appointed army, but suffered a shame- 
ful defeat. Nero now sent Vespasian to conduct the war, who 
conquered nearly the whole of the country, although he met with 
a desperate resistance. When he was on the point of besieging 
Jerusalem, he was proclaimed Emperor, and consequently pro- 
ceeded to Rome, leaving his son Titus behind, to continue the 
operations of the war. At the time when the latter reached the 
city and encamped before it, vast multitudes were assembled in 
it for the purpose of keeping the Passover which then occurred. 
Moderate men, who proposed to surrender the city, were slain by 
the zealots; these were themselves divided into factions, and 
slaughtered each other. Famine and pestilence raged fearfully 
in the city ; hundreds of thousands of dead bodies were thrown 
over the walls, and great numbers of prisoners were crucified on 
the outside by the Romans. After Titus had penetrated beyond 
the outer walls, many of the Jews retired to the temple, which 
resembled a fortified place, while others withdrew to the fortress, 
which was deemed to be impregnable. In opposition to the strict 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 267 

orders which Titus, who was extremely anxious to preserve the 
temple, had issued, a soldier threw a blazing brand into the 
building, and the efforts of Titus to extinguish the fire were made 
in vain. The splendid temple was consumed by the flames, 70 
(a. d.), on the same day on which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed 
the former temple, nearly 600 years before. Not one stone was 
left upon another, even as the Lord had predicted. (Matt. 24 : 2.) 
The upper city was taken several weeks afterwards, when the 
garrison was compelled by famine to abandon it. The whole city 
was levelled with the ground. More than one million of Jews 
perished in this war, and above 90,000 prisoners were sold as 
slaves, or reserved for gladiatorial exhibitions. Titus entered 
Rome with all the display of a Roman triumph, and on that 
occasion the table of shewbread, a candlestick, and the book of 
the Law, were conspicuous among the spoils. 

Obs. — The Roman senate directed a triumphal arch to be erected 
in Rome in honor of Titus, which still remains. On one side of it a 
representation is seen of the vessels of the temple which were ex- 
posed to view in the triumphal procession. Many of the coins which 
Titus caused to be struck in memory of this expedition also remain ; 
one of the sides represents " the captive daughter of Judah" standing 
under a palm-tree, and contains the inscription : Judaea devicta : 
the other contains the escutcheon of the Roman legions (a sow and 
pigs). — Sixty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the emperor 
Hadrian rebuilt the city and fortified it ; the heathen name of iElia 
Capitolina was given to it, and the Jews were forbidden even to 
approach it, on pain of death. The Arabs at present call it el-Kods, 
or the Holy City. 

§ 118. Israel's Present Condition. 

1. The living spirit of the history of Israel was identified with 
the divine counsel respecting that salvation, which, proceeding 
from Abraham's seed, was designed to extend to all the nations 
of the earth. As long as the people of Israel were animated and 
sustained by this breath of divine life, they constituted, amid all 
the variations of their development, a living and efficient portion 
of history. But when this life-giving breath had departed, their 



268 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

history thenceforth resembled a dead body alone — and " where- 
soever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together/ ? 
(Matt. 24 : 28.) Their political annihilation was the necessary 
and inevitable result of the course of development which they 
chose. If their actual development had corresponded to their 
original vocation, and if they had themselves accepted that great 
salvation which proceeded from their midst, they would have sus- 
tained no loss, even when the old external forms of their political 
and religious institutions disappeared ; for, by accepting of sal- 
vation in Christ, they would have thence derived an undecaying 
power or capacity to be renovated, exalted, and regenerated — the 
Israel of old would have become a new Israel. The old body of its 
institutions and divine services necessarily passed away, for a new 
spirit will always assume a new form, even as new wine requires 
new bottles (Matt. 9 : 17); nevertheless, that old body would, 
by the power of the new spirit, have been renewed from within, 
rejuvenized, and transformed. But, since the people of Israel 
rejected that salvation which had been prepared and awaited 
during thousands of years, and since they repelled the life-giving 
and regenerating spirit of Christianity, that was itself really the 
bloom and fruit of their own life, they destroyed themselves, and 
the old body, no longer sustained by a living soul, necessarily 
turned to dust. 

2. Since that great catastrophe, Israel wanders, like a spectre, 
through the successive centuries of history — a witness of the 
truth both of the promises and of the threatenings of Prophecy, 
testifying to the truth of Christianity to the end of the days. 
That time has now arrived, concerning which one of Israel's pro- 
phets spake: "The children of Israel shall abide many days 
without a king, and toithout a prince, and icithout a sacrifice, 
and without an image (indicating the pagan worship of nature), 
and without an ephod (representing the official garments of the 
high-priest with the Urim and Thummim), and without teraphim 
(domestic idols) " (Hosea 3:4); the prophet implies that they 
will be neither Jews nor pagans, and possess neither a divinely- 
appointed sanctuary, nor one dedicated to an idol. They have 
put away the pagan leaven, it is true, but they have also ceased 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 269 

to be true Jews, for what is Judaism without a temple and sacri- 
fice, without a priest and a theocracy ? They have a zeal of God, 
but not according to knowledge (Rom. 10 : 2); they have the 
law and the prophets, but the former is reduced to a state of 
torpor by Talmudic precepts, and the promises of the latter are 
lost in a cloud of vapid interpretations furnished by blind leaders 
of the blind (Matt. 15 : 14); the vail of Moses still remains on 
their eyes and their hearts, so that they do not see the clear light 
of the Gospel in the Old Testament. (2 Cor. 3 : 13-15.) They, 
call themselves Abraham's seed, but they are not the children of 
Abraham's faith. (Gal. 3:7; John ch. 8 ; Rom. ch. 4.) They 
think, indeed, that they worship the God of their fathers, but 
the God of their fathers is that God who, in Christ, became man 
— that Lord, who is our Righteousness (Jer. 33 : 16,) and Him 
they rejected; the one God of their fathers has revealed himself 
as the triune God of the Christians, and, hence, their inflexible 
and exclusive Monotheism is spurious, or appears in a petrified 
state. — This nation, which, in ancient history, appeared in an 
isolated position, occupies one which is equally singular in mo- 
dern history : the people are dispersed among all the nations of 
the earth, but blend with none : although often persecuted, 
humbled and oppressed, their strength and numbers are unim- 
paired. Eighteen centuries have passed away without having 
succeeded in producing in them an external or an internal 
change ; time, which subdues all things, has been unable to efface 
their striking peculiarities. They have preserved their nation- 
ality without a country, their religion without a worship (cultus), 
their hopes without a firm foundation ; even the features of their 
countenance have successfully resisted the influence of climate. 
All these circumstances, and, still more, the most positive pro- 
mises, both of the Old and of the New Testament, here reveal 
the finger of God, and teach us that a peculiar lot still awaits 
this nation. 

Obs. — The significant legend of the Wandering Jew here claims 
a brief notice ; he is unceasingly impelled onward through successive ^ 
centuries, and cannot find repose, till the Lord whom he blasphemed, 
re-appears, Israel is the Wandering Jew. 

23* 



270 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 119. Israel's Prospects. 

The prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision a valley which was full 
of dry bones (ch. 37), and the Lord said to him : u Son of man, 
can these bones live I" The prophet prophesied, as the Lord 
commanded, and behold, there was a noise, there was a shaking, 
the bones came together, the sinews and the flesh came up upon 
them, the breath came into them, they lived, and stood up upon 
their feet, &c. And the Lord said : " Son of man, these bones 
are the whole house of Israel" Thus, too, Hosea, after having 
described their present condition, proceeds to say: " Afterward 
shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, 
and David their king ; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness 
in the latter days/' (3 : 5.) The apostle Paul says: "I would 
not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery — that 
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the 
Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved. " (Rom. 
11 : 25, 26.) He implies, in these words, that, even as Israel, 
considered collectively as a body or nation, rejected the offered 
salvation (which is not inconsistent with the fact that many indi- 
viduals nevertheless received it), so too, Israel, as a nation, will 
hereafter be converted (which, again, is not inconsistent with the 
continued unbelief of many individuals) ; but, as he continues, 
this conversion cannot take place until the fulness of the Gentiles 
has come in (that is, all who have been called and chosen among 
the Gentiles), so that the words of the Saviour may be fulfilled : 
" Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." 
(Matt. 19 : 30.) Then will those words : " His blood be on us, 
and on our children" (Matt. 27 : 25), which have hitherto pressed 
heavily upon Israel as a curse, unfold the blessing which they 
really contain, for the blood of Christ is the propitiation for the 
sins of the whole world (1 John 2 : 2), and, consequently, for 
those of the Israelites also. Then they shall look upon him 
whom they have pierced, as Zechariah prophesies (12 : 10), and, 
like Joseph's brethren, who bowed down themselves before him, 
they too shall bow their knees before the son of David, the Son 
of God, and understand and confess that He is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 271 

Obs. — The course of future events alone can decide whether this 
restoration to the people of Israel of their spiritual inheritance is to 
be combined with the restoration of their temporal inheritance, with 
their return to the land of their fathers, and with the recovery of an 
independent national existence, as numerous promises of the pro- 
phets seem to imply. See, for instance, Isai. 43 : 1, &c. ; Jerem. 
32 : 37, &c. ; Ezek. 34 : 11, &c. ; 36 : 24, &c. ; 37 : 12, &c. ; 39 : 25, 
&c, and many other passages, in which the immediate reference to 
the return of the captives from Babylon seems, besides, to include a 
view of another, happLer and more glorious return. 



PART II. 

THE PLAN OF SALVATION, IN ITS FULFILMENT AND 
FINAL RESULTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE MANIFESTATION OF SALVATION IN THE PERSON OF THE 

REDEEMER. 

§ 120. The Fulness of the Time. —(See § 15 and § 21.) 

" When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, 
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under 
the law, that ice might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4 : 4, 5.) 

1. Judaism and heathenism had now performed the tasks as- 
signed to them respectively, and the way of salvation was pre- 
pared and opened both negatively and positively. The human 
race had been taught to understand, after an experience of 4000 
years, that salvation could not be obtained by man's own wisdom 
and strength — not through the Law, of which Judaism itself 
was a proof, — not through intellectual culture, art, science, or 
political power, of which the history of heathenism furnished 
the evidence. The law which was revealed to Israel on Sinai, 
contained a blessing, but in consequence of the deep corruption 
of human nature, it was not this blessing, but the curse which 



27:2 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

accompanied it (§ 43. 2, Obs. 2), that was experienced. (Gal. 3 : 
10.) Thus the knowledge of sin came by the law (Rom. 3 : 20; 
7 : 7), which, like a schoolmaster (Gal. 3 : 24), brought the true 
Israelites unto Christ. The Gentiles did not, indeed, possess a 
divine law, directly given by revelation, but their conscience and 
their thoughts which accuse or excuse one another, bore witness 
that the work of the law was written in their hearts. (Rom. 2 : 
15.) This law, although corrupt according to the deceitful lusts 
(Eph. 4 : 22), in manifold ways, was nevertheless sufficient to 
convince them of their moral inability. The acceptable and 
highly significant public worship of the Israelites, when further 
developed by Prophecy, had appeared as a shadow alone, or was 
felt by the religious sense of the enlightened to be a type of a 
future and better service. The blossoms of the pagan worship, 
which had exhibited an unnatural and premature expansion in 
the conservatory of the religion of nature, were found to be 
sterile, and had fallen to the ground from the unproductive tree, 
insomuch that in the days of Cicero, it was believed that one 
soothsayer could not survey another without contemptuous laugh- 
ter. (Cic. de Div. II. 24.) Hence, although heathenism had 
attained to the highest eminence with respect to the culture of 
the intellect, it could not resist the conviction of its own empti- 
ness, and of its entire inability to satisfy the wants of man's 
moral nature. When these wants began to be deeply felt, hea- 
thenism, ignorantly attempting to satisfy them and ialways disap- 
pointed, in vain expected aid from illusory mysteries, the arts of 
jugglers, and the frauds of astrologers (Chald&i, mathematici.') 
2. Besides this negative mode, which produced the conscious- 
ness that certain wants existed, and awakened a certain longing 
desire, there was also a positive mode in which the way of salva- 
tion was prepared and opened. Judaism and heathenism had 
brought to maturity the genuine fruits of their development 
which were really designed to be the vehicles of the approaching 
salvation. Israel's law had preserved in all its purity the doc- 
trine concerning God, as the only God, and the Holy One, the 
righteous and merciful God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and 
earth, distinct from nature, and infinitely exalted above it, and, 
nevertheless, ruling and directing nature as an omnipresent and 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 273 

almighty God. Israel's promises had revealed the divine counsel 
of the redemption of the human race, and described the time and 
place wherein that redemption would be accomplished. Israel's 
worship presented to the eye a portraiture of this redemption, and 
Israel's history had reached its appointed end, which was the 
manifestation of the son of David, in whom David's earthly and 
temporal kingdom would be transformed into a heavenly and 
eternal kingdom (§ 14. Obs. 1). — But heathenism also fur- 
nished valuable materials for building up the kingdom of God. 
In all that related to mental culture, to the arts and to the 
sciences, it had risen to the highest point which was attainable 
in ancient times, and was now prepared to render these blossoms 
of its development, which were not sterile, subservient to the 
great salvation which proceeded from the Jews. 

Obs. — Christianity, as the religion of the world, was, in certain 
aspects, supplied with the materials or contents by Judaism (John 
4 : 22), but with the form, by the science and culture of heathenism. 
If the results of divine revelation among the Jews had not been 
placed in combination with the elements of intellectual culture de- 
rived from the Gentiles, Christianity would have been confined 
within the particularistic (exclusive) boundaries of Judaism. These 
boundaries were removed by the adoption of the form furnished by 
that culture ; the form itself was then exalted and sanctified by the 
new materials or contents associated with it. 

3. Besides, the whole world was swayed by one sceptre; one 
language was universally understood, and the active trade and 
intercourse which the universal peace in the world abundantly 
facilitated, were well adapted to promote the rapid and direct 
diffusion of the new thoughts and doctrines among men. The 
Jews derived consolation from the promises given to the fathers, 
the fulfilment of which they confidently expected (Joseph. Jew. 
War, VI. 5. 4), and pagans entertained a presentiment of an ap- 
proaching salvation, which assumed the distinct form of a hope 
that a great and mighty monarch, proceeding from Judea, would 
ibring back the golden age (Suet. Vesp. 4.; Tac. hist. 5 : 13). 
These expectations were derived in part from the ancient hopes 
of the human race, but were also, pre-eminently, the result of 
Jewish doctrines and hopes, for many pagans were inclined tc 



274 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

adopt Judaism (proselytes of the gate), which promised to gratify 
the longing desire of their hearts. — Thus, the way was prepared, 
in every aspect, for the great Physician who alone could relieve 
the wants which were painfully felt by all, and who came for the 
purpose of supplying them. 

Obs. 1. — The inclination of many pagans, and particularly, of 
eminent matrons, to adopt the Jewish faith was so decided, as to 
furnish the satirist with many opportunities to scoff (Juv. Sat. 14, v. 
96, &c). — There were two classes of proselytes among the Jews, 
namely, 1. Proselytes of righteousness, who received circumcision, 
and engaged to observe the whole of the Mosaic law ; and, 2. Prose- 
lytes of the gate, designated in the Old Testament as strangers, who 
dwelt within the gates of the cities of Israel, and generally termed in 
the New Testament " devout" men, c^o^voi or fyo&ovfisvoc tbv ®s6v ; 
these merely attached themselves to a certain extent to the Jews, and 
simply observed the so-called seven precepts of Noah. 

Obs. 2. — For the sources whence the Gospel history is derived, 
see \ 184 

§121. The Essentials of the Work of Redemption. 

1. The Redemption of man is presented to our view in two 
aspects, a negative and a positive ; it could not be complete, un- 
less, on the one hand, all that was evil and ungodly, and that had 
entered the world in consequence of the sin of (the first) Adam 
should be removed, and, on the other, all that was good, and that 
had been omitted through his fall, should be fully set forth. The 
work and position of a Eedeemer, consequently, required him to 
be a second Adam (Rom. 5 : 12-21 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 21, 22, 45-49). 
It was necessary that the false development which had succeeded, 
and which had conducted to sin and death, should be arrested, 
and that all the losses which it had occasioned, should be repaired; 
it was, further, necessary, that the development which God had 
appointed, and which was designed to conduct to unchangeable 
holiness and salvation, should be resumed, and be continued until 
the end which was in view should be reached. The former could 
not be accomplished unless the Redeemer, as our representative 
and substitute, would take on himself the punishment of our sins, 
and atone for them and blot them out by suffering death as a 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 275 

sacrifice — the latter could not be accomplished, unless he should 
be "in all points tempted like as we are" (Heb. 4 : 15), and un- 
fold and set forth in his life the true conception of human nature 
in its original and perfect state — first of all, in his own person, 
in order that, after we are received into the communion of his 
death as well as of his life, he might, as our head (Eph. 1 : 22 ; 
4 : 15) and ruler or captain (Matt. 2:6; Heb. 2 : 10) raise up 
us also to a similar state of perfection (Eph. 2 : 5, 6). 

Obs. — We are planted in the likeness or communion of the death 
and life of Christ (§ 157. Obs. 1 and 2), by regeneration in Baptism 
(Rom. 6 : 3-11; see $ 189). Even as the sin and guilt of the first 
Adam passed upon all his descendants through their generation and 
birth, so the righteousness and holiness of the second Adam are ap- 
propriated to the whole human race, when they are born again of 
incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1 : 23), through the regeneration of water 
and of the Spirit (John 3:5). As we are all naturally born of 
Adam, and are flesh of flesh, so are we all to be supernaturally born 
of Christ, spirit of the Spirit (John 3 : 6), in order that the children 
of Adam may become the children of God, sinners become saints, 
and the children of wrath become the well-beloved and chosen of 
God. 

2. This two-fold work could not be accomplished unless the 
Redeemer who assumed it, should be God and Man in one Per- 
son, or God-Man. He was necessarily Man, like unto us in all 
points, yet without sin (Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2 : 17; 4 : 15; see 
§ 126. Obs. 1), in order that he might accomplish his work, not 
only in its positive, but also in its negative aspect. With respect 
to the latter, he possessed a human nature like our own, in order 
that he might suffer death for us, as it is written : " Forasmuch 
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself 
likewise took part of the same; that through death (which flesh 
and blood only could experience) he might destroy him that had 
the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them, who, 
through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage" 
(Heb. 2 : 14, 15). — With respect to his work, in its positive 
aspect, he was necessarily true man, in order that he might ex- 
hibit human nature in its most perfect state, in his own person, 
first of all, and, afterwards, on account of his connection with us, 



276 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

in us also. — Further, the Redeemer was also necessarily true 
God, in the first place, in reference to the negative aspect of his 
work, in order that the merit of his human sufferings and his 
death, might, through the personal union of the divine with the 
human nature, possess infinite value and eternal validity, and thus 
perfectly counterbalance the infinite guilt of the whole human 
race ; he was necessarily true God, in the second place, in reference 
to the positive aspect of his work, in order that his human nature, 
strengthened and fully qualified by the indwelling of the divine 
fulness of life, might enter upon the new course of development, 
maintain it, and conduct it to its entire completion. 

§ 122. The Person of the Redeemer. 

And the Word ivas made flesh, and dwelt among us, and ive beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth." (John 1 : 14.) 

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
ivith God : but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself," (Sec. (Phil. 2 : 6-8.) 

For the purpose of accomplishing this redemption, Christ, the 
Son of God, and the Son of Man, appeared in the fulness of the 
time; in him the eternal and true Deity of the Word which 
created the world, was united with the true humanity of Jesus 
the descendant of David, constituting a personal unity. The eter- 
nal, uncreated Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us; 
the Creator and Lord of the world forsook the throne of glory, 
and appeared on earth in the form of a servant ; the Son of God 
divested himself of his divine majesty, was made in the likeness 
of men, and found in fashion as a man. His divine splendor was 
hidden beneath the dark veil of human nature. He did not di- 
vest himself of his divinity, which he continued to possess, but 
only of the unrestricted and unconditional (supermundane) exer- 
cise of it ; he did not lay aside his divinity, but only its form 
0*op$»} ©sow, the form of God (Phil. 2 : 6), that is, the eternal, 
supermundane form of existence). All the fulness of the God- 
head dwelt bodily in the man Jesus (Col. 2 : 9), but it was only 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 277 

the eye of faith that could behold his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1 : 14). 

Obs. — His divine nature is designated by the term: "Son of God" 
(which expresses the perfect equality of his essence or being with 
that of the Father), and by the term : " Word of God," %6yo$, John 
1 : 1, &c. (which expresses that he is the Father's revelation of him- 
self). On the other hand, the name "the Son of Man," designates 
him as the true and archetypal man, in whom the conception of hu- 
manity was first of all really seen in its truth and perfection — as 
the second Adam, beginning a new and sanctified human race. He 
is designated as God-man (which term implies the essential and per- 
manent personal union of the divine and the human nature) by the 
name of Christ, that is, the Messiah, or the Anointed One ; this 
name refers more immediately to his three-fold theocratic office of 
King, Prophet and Priest — an office the functions of which none 
but a God-man could perfectly discharge and ultimately complete. 

§ 123. The Forerunner. 

" The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isa. 
40:3.) 

" Behold, I will send my messenger," &c. (Mai. 3 : 1.) See § 109. 3. 

1. John the Baptist, who belonged to a sacerdotal family, was 
the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth ; when the angel of the Lord 
foretold his birth, he was already dedicated to the Nazariteship 
(§ 52. A. Obs.). The unbelief of his father was punished with 
an inability to speak. When his tongue was loosed at the cir- 
cumcision of the promised son, he was filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and prophesied concerning " the day-spring from on high," for 
which that child should, at a future day, prepare the way (Luke 
ch. 1). John grew up, spake as a prophet, " in the spirit and 
power of Elias" (Luke 1 : 17), and said: "Repent ye; for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3 : 2). He baptized those 
who confessed their sins, symbolically sealing their repentance 
with water, and said : " I indeed baptize you with water unto re- 
pentance ) but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose 
shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 3 : 11). And he also said : 

24 



278 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

li There standeth one among you, whom ye know not : he it is, 
who coming after me, is preferred before me .... he must in- 
crease, but I must decrease" (John 1 : 26, 27; 3 : 30). When 
he saw Jesus coming to him, he said : " Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world l" (1 : 29.) 

Obs. — The Baptism of John does not possess the rank and charac- 
ter of Christian Baptism (g 189) ; the former was merely a symbol, 
the latter is a Sacrament (g 188. Obs. 1) ; the former was, according 
to the declaration of John himself, a baptism with water unto 
repentance, the latter is a baptism with water and the Holy Ghost, 
whereby the great salvation is fully appropriated ; and, in the case 
of the disciples of Jesus, it was a baptism with fire and the Holy 
Ghost (§ 162. 2, Obs. 1). The former was, moreover, a baptism unto 
the Messiah who should come (Acts 19 : 4), the latter is a baptism 
unto Him who has really come. It was not the office of John to im- 
part salvation himself, but only to prepare the minds of men for it, 
both by preaching repentance and by sealing it through the baptism 
of water. The promised salvation had not yet been accomplished, 
and the Holy Ghost, to whom alone the office of appropriating it be- 
longs [l 161 and § 185), had not yet been poured out. Hence those 
disciples of John in Ephesus (Acts 19: 3, 5; $ 175), who had already 
been baptized unto John's baptism, nevertheless received Christian 
Baptism afterwards. 

2. John preached repentance not only to the people, but also 
to the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who had married the adulterous 
wife of his brother. He approached Herod and said : "It is not 
lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Herod commanded 
John to be seized, and imprisoned him in the fortress of Maehse- 
rus in Peraea, where the tetrarch resided. He did not venture 
to take John's life ; he even gladly heard him occasionally, and 
obeyed him in many things (Mark 6 : 20). — It was in his gloomy 
prison, that the bright and distinct views which usually charac- 
terized John's faith were, on one occasion, clouded during an hour 
of temptation, and he sent two of his disciples to Jesus with the 
commission to ask: "Art thou he that should come, or do we 
look for another ?" Jesus answered by directing them to con- 
sider his miracles, and, after their departure, testified in the hear- 
ing of the people, that John was greater than all the prophets of 
the Old Testament, but also added that he that is least in the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 279 

kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matt. 11 : 2, &c). John 
was at last put to death by the executioner. On Herod's birth- 
day the daughter of Herodias danced before him, and so greatly 
pleased him, that he promised her with an oath that he would 
grant any wish which she might express \ the princess, instigated 
by her mother, asked that the head of John the Baptist should 
be given to her in a charger. Herod unwillingly complied, for 
his oath's sake and for their sakes who sat with him at meat, and 
John was beheaded in the prison (Mark 6 : 21-28). 

§ 124. The Genealogy of Christ. 

Matt. 1 : 1-17; Luke 3 : 23-38. — It is the chief purpose 
of the genealogical table of Christ, which embraces fully four 
thousand years, and is unparalleled in its nature, to show the 
connection that really and, indeed, necessarily existed between 
Christ and the ancestor of the people of Israel, on the one hand, 
from whom the promised salvation was to proceed, and the an- 
cestor of the whole human race, on the other, whose Saviour he 
was declared to be. Christ was the fruit of the historical de- 
velopment both of Israel in particular, and of the entire human 
race in general ; and it was important that the essential connec- 
tion between the fruit and the root should be distinctly set forth. 
Matthew, whose Gospel was intended for the Jews, does not trace 
the genealogy of Christ further than Abraham ; his object is 
attained when the connection of the Redeemer with the line of 
promise of the Old Testament is proved. As Luke wrote his 
Gospel for Gentiles, he necessarily continued the genealogy to 
Adam, the common ancestor of all nations, for the purpose of 
showing to them that Christ was a partaker of their flesh and 
blood also. 

Obs. — The difference between the two genealogies is most easily 
explained by referring to the particular object which each Evangelist 
had in view in commencing to write. It was the main object of 
Matthew, when he composed his Gospel, to demonstrate that Jesus 
was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament ; it was, accordingly, 
incumbent on him to furnish the evidence that Jesus was the lawful 
heir and successor to whom the royalty of David belonged, and that 
the fundamental prophecy in 2 Sam. ch. 7 was thus fulfilled. In ac 



280 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

cordance with his leading design, he necessarily showed the legal 
connection (derived from the laws of inheritance) of Christ with the 
house of David in the line of Solomon. If this descent, although 
fixed by the laws, did not coincide with Christ's descent after the 
flesh, the latter was passed over, and the former was set forth as en- 
titled to recognition. As Luke wrote for Christians who proceeded 
from the Gentile world, no necessity existed for giving prominence 
to that line of succession which was valid in law in a theocratical 
point of view ; it was, on the contrary, far more important, in ac- 
cordance with his main object, to set forth Christ's true descent after 
the flesh. The two tables begin to vary in assigning names respec- 
tively to the individuals representing the generation immediately 
following David — his two sons Solomon and Nathan. They coincide 
again on reaching Salathiel, the father of Zorobabel, who is de- 
scended from Solomon, according to Matthew, but from Nathan, 
another son of David (Zech. 12 : 12), according to Luke. This va- 
riation is easily explained, in perfect consistency with historical 
events (1 Chron. 3 : 17, &c), by assuming that a levirate marriage 
(described in \ 66. B. Obs. 2), had occurred : namely, Matthew states 
Zorobabel's descent, according to the laws of inheritance, while 
Luke relates his descent after the flesh. The tables again differ after 
the introduction of the name of Zorobabel, and do not coincide till 
they reach the name of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Joseph's 
father, according to Luke is Heli, but, according to Matthew it is 
Jacob. Among the many attempts which have been made to explain 
this apparent contradiction, none seems more successful than the one 
which produces the result that Joseph became the son of Heli by his 
.marriage with Mary. If Mary was a daughter capable of inheriting, 
that is, the heiress of the family estate, in consequence of having 
no brother (Num. 27 : 8), she could not marry except in her own 
tribe (Num. 36 : 4-10) ; her husband's name took the place in the 
genealogy which belonged really to her according to her true descent, 
and he appeared as the son of Heli. According to this view, Luke 
furnishes in truth the genealogy of Mary, and, consequently, the 
evidence of Christ's descent from David after the flesh. This solu- 
tion of the difficulty is supported by the circumstance, that in any 
aspect of the case, scriptural passages like the following, conclusively 
show that Christ, in his human nature, is a descendant of David 
after the flesh also: Isai. 7: 14; Micah 5:2; Acts 2 : 30 : Rom. 
1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 7 : 14, &c. The two genealogies would 
then admit of the following adjustment, illustrating their perfect 
agreement : 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 281 



Matthew. Luke. 

DAVID. 



Solomon. Nathan. 

Jechomas, JNeri, 

(legal father, transmitting (true or real father of) 
hereditary rights to) 



Salathiel. 

I 
Zorobabel. 



Abiud. Rhesa. 

Jacob, Heli, 
(true or real father of) (father-in-law of) 
I I 

I 

Joseph, 

(legal father, transmitting hereditary rights to Christ). 



§ 125. The Virgin Mary. 

1. Mary, the noble virgin of David's royal race, was the woman 
who was chosen to be the mother of the Saviour (§ 129. Obs.); 
she was poor and obscure in the world, but was chosen of the 
Lord and precious, rich in child-like humility, in tenderness of 
feeling, in submissiveness of spirit and in faith. In her the 
most delicate and lovely traits of womanhood were unfolded, and 
the loftiest vocation of woman was demonstrated; hence, the 
whole race wa3 blessed in. her. As the mother of the second 
Adam, with whom the new development of the human race com- 
menced, she is an antitype of the first woman, and may, in a 
higher sense, be called "the mother of all living." (Gen. 3 : 20.) 
The Lord had chosen her before those ancestors lived, whose 
many names appear in her genealogy; she was, in a certain 
sense, the person really designated, when Abraham was called, 
when David was anointed, &c. For, that woman, of whom the 
Saviour was born when God was manifested in the flesh, termi- 
nated the long series of generations (§ 14. Obs. 1) which, 
although involved in the general curse of human sinfulness (Ps. 
51 : 5), was, nevertheless, sustained by the life-giving power of 
24* 



282 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the divine counsel; that series, like a golden chain, passes on- 
ward, without interruption, through the whole course of develop- 
ment which precedes the Christian era. Of this chain, Mary 
forms the last link; with her that generation which is merely 
human ceases, giving place to that immediate and divine genera- 
tion which itself closes entirely the development belonging to 
the Old Testament. 

Obs. — The whole sex to which Mary belongs, and of which she is 
the representative, is honored by the holy call which she received. 
The shame and the curse in which the female sex was involved 
through the first woman, are abolished in Mary, and woman is raised 
up from that low degree to which she had been reduced by a sinful 
development; that sex, hitherto oppressed in manifold ways, and 
despised, henceforth assumes an entirely different and a loftier po- 
sition. (§ 132. 1, Obs.) The wonderfully impressive salutation which 
the angel addressed to the meek and lowly handmaid of the Lord 
(Luke 1 : 28), constitutes the turning-point in the history of the 
female sex, and is, in this aspect, a salutation which deeply interests 
the whole world. 

2. Luke 1 : 26, &c. — In the sixth month after the announce- 
ment respecting John, the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin 
Mary and addressed to her these words of salutation : " Hail, 
thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed 
art thou among women. " And he said, further, "The Holy 
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall 
overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be 
born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." And Mary said : 
(( Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to 
thy word." When Mary afterwards visited her cousin Elizabeth, 
the latter thus addressed her : " Blessed art thou among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, 
that the mother of my Lord should come to me V Then Mary's 
heart was filled with gratitude, and she praised the Lord who had 
done great things to her; " for," said she, " he hath regarded 
the low estate of his handmaiden : for, behold, from henceforth 
all generations shall call me blessed/ ' 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 283 



§ 126. The Birth of Jesus. 

" Behold, a virgin shall conceive" &c. (Isa. 7 : 14. $ 101. 1.) 
"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah," &c. (Mic. 5:2. g 101. 3.) 

Matt. 1 : 18-25; Luke 2 : 1-20. — In the mean time, Joseph 
of Nazareth, who had been instructed concerning these things 
by an angel in a dream, took unto him Mary, who was espoused 
to him ; and as the emperor Augustus had, about the same time, 
issued an edict that a general census of the empire should be 
taken, Joseph, who was of the house and lineage of David, pro- 
ceeded to Bethlehem, the original seat of his family. Here Mary 
brought forth a son; she laid the child in a manger, because 
there was no room for them in the inn. The glad tidings were 
first conveyed, not to the scribes in Jerusalem, but to the shep- 
herds in the field. The glory of the Lord shone round about 
them, and the angel of the Lord said to them : " Behold, I 
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord." And suddenly there was with the 
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying: 
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to- 
ward men." When the angels were gone away from them into 
heaven, the shepherds came and found the babe, and told all that 
had occurred to them. Mary kept all these things, and pondered 
them in her heart. The shepherds departed, glorifying and 
praising God. 

Obs. 1. — The words of the Apostles' Creed: "Jesus Christ .... 
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary/' present 
the two aspects in which the incarnation of God is to be viewed ; 
they deny, on the one hand, that any connection exists between him 
and the human race, as far as original sin is concerned, but they 
affirm, on the other hand, that he is of the same nature, and appears 
in the same form. For Christ could not redeem the world from sin, 
unless he was without sin himself, and consequently, it was indis- 
pensabty necessary that he should not be born of a father and a 
mother, as we all are, since the hereditary sinfulness of man would, 
in that case, have been transmitted to him also. ($ 14. Obs. 2.) It 
was, much rather, requisite that his human nature should acquire 



284 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

life by the might of omnipotence in a peculiar and miraculous man 
ner. — Nevertheless, it was also indispensable that he should appear 
in an essential and necessary connection with the whole human race, 
that he should be like unto us in all points, yet without sin, that he 
should enter into the same relations of life in which we are placed, 
and that, consequently, he should, like us, be born of a woman. 
Hence, his human nature, although itself without sin, experienced 
all the consequences of sin, such as the helplessness and weakness, 
the wants and sufferings of our nature. He appeared, as Paul says 
(Rom. 8 : 3), " in the likeness of sinful flesh," iv o^oi^a'ti aapxbf 
afiaptlaf. For the purpose of redeeming the human race, that is, of 
arresting the false development which had been commenced, and of 
manifesting the one which alone was true and genuine, he necessarily 
made his appearance precisely at that point which this false deve- 
lopment had reached. He was born of a woman who was devout 
and full of child-like faith, but who was, nevertheless, a sinful wo- 
man ; still, he was as little contaminated, on account of this circum- 
stance, by the universal sinfulness of man, as the generous graft 
which is inserted in the wild olive-tree partakes of the evil qualities 
of the latter. 

q bs# 2. — Chronologists are not yet agreed respecting the precise 
year in which Christ was born. It is generally admitted that our 
present reckoning (JEra Dionysiaca) which proceeds from Dionysius 
Exiguus, a monk of the sixth century, is incorrect ; for Herod the 
Great, who lived, as it is well known, during a short period after the 
birth of Christ, died before the commencement of the Vulgar Era. 
Whether the birth of Christ occurred two, four, or seven years be- 
fore that era commences, has not yet been satisfactorily determined. 

Obs. 3. — Tradition indicates a certain grotto near Bethlehem as 
the place in which the Redeemer was born. The evidences which 
are furnished for the truth of this tradition reach to the middle of 
the second century, for Justin the Martyr, and, at a later period, 
Origen, Eusebius, &c, bear witness to its truth. By the directions 
of the empress Helena, a splendid church was built over this grotto, 
and a convent, somewhat resembling a fortress, was afterwards con- 
nected with the church. The Greeks, Armenians and Latins are at 
present the joint owners of the church. A staircase on each side of 
the great altar conducts to the grotto, which is 37 feet in length, 12 
feet in breadth, and 9 feet in height ; the sides are covered with 
hangings of silk interwoven with resplendent gold. Immediately 
below this altar a niche is seen, which is revered as the spot wherein 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 285 

Mary brought forth the Saviour. Another niche is seen at the dis- 
tance of a few steps from the former, cut out of the rock, which is 
considered to be the manger wherein the babe lay. Each niche is 
lined with plates of marble, and contains a number of lamps of sil- 
ver and gold which burn continually by day and by night. The 
remote age to which this tradition may be traced, is an argument in 
favor of its truth. The Evangelist speaks of the manger as a spot 
not included in the inn, it is true ; still it is a common practice at 
the present day in Palestine, and, generally, in the East, to use 
grottoes which occur among the rocks, as places of shelter for cattle. 

§ 127. The Circumcision and Presentation of Jesus. 

1. Luke 2 : 21. — On the eighth day the child was circum- 
cised according to the Law of Moses, and received the name of 
Jesus (that is, Saviour), as the angel had said to Mary (Luke 1 : 
31), and also, in a dream, to Joseph (Matt. 1 : 21). 

Obs. — As Christ, by being born of a woman, entered into the com- 
mon relations and circumstances of human life, and became subject 
to the common laws by which it is governed, so, too, it was necessary 
that he should enter into those relations and circumstances, and be- 
come subject to those laws which were specially Jewish (Gal. 4: 4), 
like all other Israelites. It was not an accidental or unimportant 
circumstance that Christ was of the seed of Abraham, but essentially 
belonged to the plan of salvation. After preparations had been made 
for the promised salvation during a period of 2000 years, the Re- 
deemer appeared, in order that he might thenceforth continue the 
development and at last complete it — fulfilling both the law and the 
promise. 

2. Luke 2 : 22, &c. — For the same reason he was presented 
to the Lord in the temple on the fortieth day, according to the 
Jewish law of purifying (Lev. 12 : 2, &c), and the sacrifices which 
were appointed for the case of a first-born son, were offered. 
And, behold, a man, named Simeon, came by the Spirit into the 
temple, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel ; for it had 
been revealed to him that he should not see death, before he had 
seen the Lord's Christ. He took up the child in his arms and 
said : " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, accord- 
ing to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. " And 
to Mary he said : " Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising 



286 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

again of many in Israel ; and for a sign which shall be spoken 
against (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) ; 
that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed/' A certain 
prophetess also, named Anna, a very aged widow, who was in the 
temple, gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them 
that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. 

Obs. — Simeon, Anna, and many others who are afterwards men- 
tioned by the Evangelists (|| 131, 132), belong to that holy seed of 
genuine Israelites still remaining at that period ; they are of the 
"seven thousand 7 ' (? 92. 2) of that age who had not bowed unto the 
new Baal of carnal Messianic hopes and foolish self-righteousness 
(§ 112. 2). 

§ 128. The Wise Men out of the East, and the Flight into Egypt. 

1. Matt. 2 : 1-12. — As the choir of the angels which praised 
God, directed the shepherds in the way to the babe in the manger, 
so the star which the wise men (magians) out of the east saw in 
their own country, directed them in the same way; the shepherds 
were the first-fruits of the Jews, as the wise men were the first- 
fruits of the Gentiles. The latter were probably influenced by 
the prevailing feeling (§ 120. 3) that the king of the world would 
come forth from Judea, and they were perhaps acquainted with 
many of the special predictions granted to the chosen people, for 
Daniel had been the chief or head of the magians. When they 
saw this remarkable object in the sky, they rightly inferred, in 
this case at least, that a remarkable object, corresponding to it, 
would soon be observed on earth. They consequently hasten to 
Jerusalem, and ask: "Where is he that is born King of the 
Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to 
worship him." Then Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem 
with him ; he ascertained, on gathering all the scribes together, 
that Bethlehem was the place in which Christ was to be born. 
The wise men hastened thither, worshipped the child, and pre- 
sented to him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Herod had 
charged them strictly to inform him when they found the child, 
"that I may come/' he added with malice and hypocrisy, "and 
worship him also." But God commanded them in a dream to 
depart into their own country another way. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 287 

Obs. — The statement that the wise men were three in number, 
and that they were kings, rests on traditions which do not appear to 
be worthy of credit. According to Kepler's conjecture, which is 
founded on certain astronomical calculations, and which has been 
generally adopted by learned men in recent times, the star of the 
wise men was a remarkable conjunction of the planets Jupiter and 
Saturn in the constellation of Pisces, occurring in the year 747 after 
the building of the city of Rome — Mars assumed the same position, 
the following year. Others, however, to whom this view appears to 
be irreconcilable with Matt. 2 : 9, prefer the opinion that an entirely 
new and peculiar appearance in the heavens is here meant, to which, 
as they suppose, the sign of the Messiah in heaven at his second 
coming (Matt. 24 : 30) will correspond. Although the precise ap- 
pearance of the star cannot be described, it evidently arrested the 
attention of astronomers alone, for if the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
had noticed it themselves, the words of the wise men would not have 
occasioned that consternation of which we read. 

2. Matt. 2 : 13-23.— When Herod found that the wise men 
had not complied with his injunctions, he determined to secure 
his object by causing ail the children in Bethlehem that were two 
years old and under, to be murdered. But Joseph, who had been 
previously warned by an angel in a dream, had already departed 
into Egypt with the child and his mother, having, doubtless, de- 
rived important aid from the costly gifts of the magians. In 
consequence of another divine intimation, he subsequently re- 
turned, after the death of Herod, and established himself in 
Nazareth, where his trade, which was that of a carpenter, secured 
employment for him. 

§ 129. The Early Years of Christ 

Luke 2 : 40-52. — Only one incident belonging to the early 
life of Jesus is recorded by the sacred writers. When he was 
twelve years old, he went with Joseph and his mother to Jeru- 
salem for the purpose of keeping the feast there. The scribes 
who sat in the temple were astonished at his understanding, both 
when he questioned and when he answered them. To his mother 
who found him in the temple on the third day, after an anxious 
eearch, he said : " Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's 



288 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

business V f In these words a distinct consciousness of his own 
person and his work begins to shine forth. For, a certain conscious- 
ness or sense of our own human nature and its purposes is gradually 
developed in ourselves as the period of childhood recedes, and 
this progression occurred in Christ also, who was made like unto 
us in all things. A similar development occurred (not of Christ's 
divine nature itself, which is incapable of it, but) of his personal 
consciousness of his divine nature and his Messianic vocation, 
corresponding in its progress with the former. The early years 
of Christ, in general, were unquestionably passed in unpretending 
obedience, in a diligent search after knowledge, and in the study 
of the Scriptures; the evangelist testifies that he " increased in 
wisdom and stature [or age], and in favor with God and man." 

Obs. — Joseph and Mary, the last members of the royal family, the 
genuine descendants of David, not only after the flesh, but also after 
the spirit, are the attendants of the holy child and conduct his educa- 
tion. The education of an individual is his moral generation, and 
generation is a communication of being. All that was holy and di- 
vine in the mind and character of these two chosen persons, pro- 
moted the development of the child's soul, which contained in itself 
all the germs of perfect holiness. But nothing that was unclean and 
sinful in them as mere human beings, could influence his holy soul, 
both because the latter presented no point of union or contact, and 
because his whole human development was alike sustained by the 
fulness of the indwelling Godhead, and guarded and superintended 
by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1 : 35). Both Joseph and Mary possessed 
the genuine theocratic and devout spirit which existed only during 
the most flourishing periods of the Old Testament history ; but that 
spirit presented in these two persons entirely distinct features, which, 
in their combination, formed a harmonious whole. Joseph was a 
strict observer of the Law, possessed decision and energy of charac- 
ter (Matt. 1 : 19, 24; 2 : 21-23), sustained the burden of earthly 
labor (Matt. 13 : 55), and exhibited in his whole bearing that serious- 
ness which the experience of life produces. These characteristics 
gave a peculiar direction to the mode of educating his holy pupil ; 
they tended to develop in the latter an intelligent inclination to the 
righteousness of the Old Testament, which he had really come to 
fulfil entirely (Matt, 3 : 15 ; Gal. 4 : 4, 5) ; and they trained him to 
endure privations, to minister to others, and to suffer, which con- 
stituted his great work on earth (Matt. 8 : 20 ; 20 : 28). Mary, on 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 289 

the other hand, is characterized by a child-like humility (Luke 1 : 
38 ; John 2: 3, 4), by a sincere faith which controlled all the feelings 
of her heart, by habits of deep and holy meditation (Luke 2: 19, 51), 
by tenderness and devotion (Luke 2 : 39) ; she is sincerely humble, 
it is true, but she is also conscious of her exalted and peculiar voca- 
tion, and on account of it, rejoices in her God (Luke 1 : 46, &c). She 
is fitted by these characteristics to supply an element in conducting 
the education of her divinely-begotten child, which does not counter- 
act but rather complete or perfect the influence exercised by Joseph's 
character. — It is also to be observed that their holy pupil re-acted 
on them and exercised a purifyiug and sanctifying influence which 
prepared them to enter into the kingdom of Him who was both 
David's Son and Lord (Matt. 22 : 41-45), and, therefore, also their 
own, of which various instances occur in the Gospel history (Luke 
2 : 49-51 ; John 2 : 4, 5 ; Matt. 12 : 46-50). For the principle which 
is illustrated in ordinary cases, namely, that those who educate 
others are, at the same time, receiving an education themselves, was 
never so perfectly observed as in the present instance, to which no 
parallel can be produced. 

§ 130. The Baptism and the Temptation of Jesus. 

1. Matt. 3 : 13-17. — While John, who had come into all the 
country about Jordan (Luke 3 : 3), was baptizing, Jesus, who 
was then about thirty years of age (Luke 3 : 23), also came to him 
to be baptized. But John forbade him, saying: "I have need 
to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me V But Jesus said 
to him : " Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil 
all righteousness." Then John baptized him, and lo, the heavens 
were opened unto him, the Spirit of God, descending like a dove, 
lighted upon him, and a voice from heaven said : " This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

Obs. — Christ, considered in himself alone, was free from guilt, for 
he was without sin, and needed no repentance ; in so far, the refusal 
of John to baptize him, proceeded from a correct view. Still, the 
view of John was, in so far false, as he regarded Jesus merely as a 
single individual who stood before him unconnected with others and 
alone. Jesus entered, by being born of a woman, into a fellowship 
of life with the human race, burdened as it was, with guilt. He had 
become a member of the entire organism, and, as a member, he also 
bore the burden of the organism with which he was now connected. 
25 



290 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

But he was appointed to be more than a mere member ; the member 
was designed to become the Head (§ 121. 1). Now, if he was made 
the Head, it was first needful that he should take on himself the en- 
tire burden of the whole organism, and, both contending and suffer- 
ing, overcome and entirely remove it. "It became him to fulfil all 
righteousness." — The blotting out of sins comprehends two points: 
repentance, and punishment, or, sorrow for sin (as a sentiment or feel- 
ing), and the atonement (ransoming) by suffering the punishment 
(as an act) — that is, a sentiment and an act, willingness and the 
execution. At his baptism, Christ set forth the sorrow which should 
follow sin ; on the cross, he endured its punishment, suffering in the 
cause of the human race, which he had made his own personal cause. 
His baptism and his death are the beginning and the conclusion of 
his atoning work. By submitting to the baptism of water unto re- 
pentance, he expressed his willingness to regard the burden of the 
human race as his own, to bear it and to atone for it ; when he sub- 
mitted to the baptism of blood unto punishment, that is, to death, 
his willingness appeared as the actual execution, or as the act that 
completed the work which he assumed. The baptism unto repentance 
was his consecration to that death by which he made atonement. — 
His baptism, accordingly, constituted the act, proceeding, at a ripe 
age, from clear views of his work, and from his own unbiassed deci- 
sion, by which he assumed his Messianic office as far as Ms human 
nature was concerned ; and these circumstances explain the fact that 
it was precisely at his baptism that he received the Messianic conse- 
cration, and the anointing with the Holy Ghost, by which he was 
sealed from heaven as the Lord's Christ (that is, the Anointed One). 

2. Matt. 4 : 1-11 (Luke 4 : 1-13). — Previous to the public 
appearance of Jesus as the Messiah, he was led by the Spirit into 
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. After fasting forty 
days, he hungered. The tempter availed himself of this circum- 
stance for the purpose of communicating with him, and offered 
three temptations : " Command that these stones be made bread 
— If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down — All these 
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
But the Redeemer repels him by means of the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God (Eph. 6 : 17). " Man shall not live by 
bread alone — thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — Get thee 
hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve." Then the devil leaveth 
him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 291 

Obs. — This temptation of the second Adam corresponds to the 
one which was offered to the first Adam. The temptation of the 
latter by the devil was necessary and indispensable (§ 11). As the 
first Adam did not successfully resist the temptation of Satan, the 
second Adam was necessarily subjected to it anew. The three forms 
of his temptation were governed by one design — to induce him to 
adopt the carnal Messianic expectations of the Jews ; these converted 
the kingdom of God into a kingdom of this world, and desired tem- 
poral enjoyment, power and glory, without the endurance of priva- 
tions, without ministering to others, and without sufferings. The 
temptation of the Redeemer was rendered possible by the fact that 
he had really and truly a human nature like our own. His hu- 
manity, as such, was tempted, and, in so far, the possibility of a fall 
existed, but, on the other hand, on account of the personal union of 
his humanity with his divinity, it was necessary and certain that he 
would gain the victory. 

§ 131. The Disciples of Jesus. 

1. Matt. 10 : 2-4 (Luke 6 : 13-16). — The twelve disciples 
of Jesus were : 1. Simon Peter, the son of Jonas the fisherman, 
of Bethsaida; 2. Andrew, his brother; 3. John, the son of Zebe- 
dee the fisherman, and of Salome, of Galilee; 4. James (the elder) 
his brother; 5. Philip; 6. Bartholomew; 7. Thomas, also called 
Didymus (the twin, John 11 : 16); 8. Matthew, or Levi; 
9. James (the less, Mark 15 : 40), the son of Alpheus (or Cleo- 
pas), and of Mary, who was probably a sister of the mother of 
Jesus (John 19 : 25; Matt. 27 : 56); 10. Judas, the son or 
brother of James, perhaps the brother of the last-named disciple 
(see the epistle of Jude, verse 1) ; his surname was Thaddeus or 
Lebbeus; 11. Simon Zelotes, or the Canaanite; and, 12. Judas 
Iscariot (that is, of Carioth, or Kerioth, Joshua 15 : 25). 

2. John and Andrew, who had previously been disciples of 
John the Baptist, were the first who attached themselves to the 
Redeemer. Andrew informed his brother Simon that he had 
" found the Messiah" (John 1 : 41), and brought him to Jesus. 
Philip, who had been called by the Lord himself, said to Na- 
thanael (who is probably the Bartholomew already mentioned) : 
" We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the pro- 



292 KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

phets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Na- 
thanael, who was well acquainted with the Scriptures, objected, 
and said : " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth W 
Philip was fully persuaded in his own mind and merely answered : 
" Come and see." The Lord testified of Nathanael : " Behold 
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile !" When he referred 
to the occurrence under the fig-tree, Nathanael exclaimed : 
"Rabbi, thou art the Son of G-od, thou art the King of Israel." 
Then the Lord promised that he should see greater things than 
these (John 1 : 35-51). — John and James, Andrew and Peter, 
were fishermen, residing in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. 
When Christ afterwards called them specially, under circum- 
stances which were symbolically significant, he promised that he 
would make them "fishers of men" (Matt. 4 : 19). Matthew 
received his call while he was sitting at the receipt of custom 
(Matt. 9 : 9). 

3. The seventy disciples (Luke ch. 10) formed the widest circle 
of the attendants of Christ ; the Twelve approached more closely 
to him; of these, John, Peter and James enjoyed the most intimate 
communion with him. Both numbers (twelve and seventy) were 
significant; the former referred to the twelve tribes of Israel 
(Matt. 19 : 28), the latter, to the seventy nations of the earth, 
or to the seventy elders to whom the Lord gave of the spirit which 
was upon Moses. (Num. ch. 11.) The Twelve forsook all and 
followed Jesus ; the Seventy did not withdraw permanently from 
their usual employments. The former received a preliminary 
commission from Christ to preach to Israel, and to heal the sick 
(Luke 9); the latter were sent forth, two and two, on another 
occasion, with a similar commission. " The harvest," said thr 
Lord to them, " truly is great, but the laborers are few : pray ye 
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth 
laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10 : 2.) 

Obs. — Simon, who is distinguished above all others, by the earnest- 
ness, decision and alacrity with which he dedicated himself to the 
person and the cause of the Redeemer, received the honorable appel- 
lation of Peter or Cephas, that is, the rock. When the Lord asked 
his disciples ($ 145. 1) : " Whom say ye that I am ?" Peter answered 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 293 

promptly and decidedly: " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God." Jesus then said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for 
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which 
is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter (lietpof, 
the man who is as a rock), and upon this rock (irti tatty tyj kstpq, 
namely, Peter's confession which, like a rock, cannot be shaken) I 
will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven : 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven."* 
(Matt. 16 : 13-19.) The same authority is afterwards given to all 
the disciples. (Mat. 18 : 18.) — John's devotion to his divine master 
is characterized by the utmost tenderness and by depth of love : he 
was the disciple " whom Jesus loved." (John 13 : 23 ; 19 : 26.) 
That the gentleness of his disposition was very different from weak- 
ness, is demonstrated by the passionate warmth of zeal which urged 
him and his brother James to propose that fire from heaven should 
consume the people of a Samaritan village who refused to receive 
Christ; the Lord answered: "Ye know not what manner of spirit 
ye are of." (Luke 9 : 51-55 ; see \ 94. 2, Obs. 2.) It is, further, 
demonstrated by the honorable appellation of Boanerges, that is, The 
sons of thunder (Mark 3 : 17), which Christ applied to the two bro- 
thers, and also by the uncompromising firmness and severity with 
which he rebukes in his Epistles, and in The Revelation, all that is 
sinful. — The reason for which a certain prominence is given to Peter, 
John and James is, probably, to be traced chiefly to the circumstance 
that they were the representatives of three essential tendencies in 
the kingdom of God. 

§ 132. Continuation. 

1. The following are specially named among the women who 
Believed, and who attached themselves to the cause of the Lord 
as disciples : — 1. Mary, the mother of James the less, and the 
sister of the mother of Jesus. (John 19 : 25.) 2. Mary of Mag- 
dala, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils. (Mark 16 : 9.) 
She is, according to tradition, the woman who was a sinner, men- 
tioned in Luke 7 : 86-50, who anointed Jesus in the Pharisee's 
house, and concerning whom he said: " Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven : for she- loved much/ 7 3. Mary of Bethany, 
25* 



294 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

who sat at Jesus' feet, ancj learned concerning the one thing 
which is needful. (Luke 10 : 38-42.) 4. Martha, her busy 
sister, whose brother Lazarus was restored to life by Christ. 
(John ch. 11.) 5. Salome, probably the mother of John and 
James (compare Mark 15 : 40 and 16 : 1 with Matt. 27 : 56). 
6. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, with, 7, Susanna, 
and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. 
(Luke 8 : 3.) 

Obs. — Even after the old covenant was established, the female sex 
was not yet able to obtain an independent position in the congrega- 
tion of God which was recognized as its own, neither could it acquire 
a rank that enabled it to exercise a distinct influence on the deve- 
lopment of the kingdom of God. For the first act of woman which 
affected that development (g 11. 2) perverted its whole course, and 
removed her from her original position which had secured for her all 
the rights which Man exercised. But in the new development which 
commenced with the second Adam, the leading principle by which 
the relation between the two sexes in the kingdom of God is decided, 
is thus expressed : " There is neither male nor female : for ye are all 
one in Christ Jesus/' (Gal. 3 : 28.) When, in the fulness of the 
time, the infinitely exalted and blessed vocation was granted to 
woman of being the medium of the incarnation of God, a change 
occurred which affected her whole relation to the Church, and, con- 
sequently, to life in general also ; thenceforth, the female sex com- 
menced to dedicate to the extension of the kingdom of God with 
entire freedom of action all those gifts and powers with which, as a 
sex, it is specially endowed. A woman brought forth the Saviour 
of the world and nursed him at the breast, and those who afterwards 
served him with tender and devoted love during his ministry on 
earth, and gave him of their substance, were Women. When Men 
weakly and timidly fled (Matt. 26 : 56), Women, wonderfully strong 
in their faith and love, retained their firmness : they stand by the 
cross (John 19 : 25) till the cruel and ignominous death to which 
malefactors are doomed, overtakes the Saviour. And as women 
served him while he lived on earth, so too, after his ascension, women 
and virgins, mindful of his words (Mark 9 : 37 ; Matt. 25 : 40), have 
pre-eminently served him, clothed him, given him meat and visited him, 
when they showed compassion to the poor and the sick, the young 
and the feeble. Weak women and tender virgins have endured inde- 
scribable tortures, and willingly died as martyrs, confessing Christ 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 295 

with their last breath. Men are induced by their wives to receive 
the Gospel (1 Cor. 7 : 14, 16 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 1, 2) ; captive virgins carry 
the seed of the Word to the families of fierce and ignorant warriors ; 
virgins belonging to royal families have brought to the houses of 
those to whom they were betrothed the Gospel as their most costly 
bridal ornament, and through their agency pagan rulers and their 
subjects have been converted ; blessed results have followed the 
labors of the wives of Christian missionaries with whom they have 
faithfully co-operated in the Lord. 

2. Nicodernus and Joseph of Arimathea, both members of the 
great council, are also mentioned as having secretly become disci- 
ples of Jesus. The former, through fear of the Jews, ventured 
only by night to come to Jesus, for the purpose of receiving in- 
struction respecting the necessity of being born again of water 
and of the Spirit (John ch. 3). On one occasion he expressed, 
at a meeting of the great council, his disapprobation of the con- 
duct of those who unjustly accused Jesus (John 7 : 50, 51); but 
it was only after the death of the Lord that he openly declared 
himself to be a disciple, when he united with Joseph of Arima- 
thea in laying the body of the crucified Jesus in the sepulchre 
(John 19 : 38-42). 

3. In addition to those disciples whose names are given, others 
were directed by the Lord to follow him, or voluntarily offered 
themselves, but were not, perhaps, prepared to practise the self- 
denial which he enjoined. One of these was deterred when 
Jesus said to him : " Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have 
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." 
Another, who desired first to go and bury his father, received the 
answer : " Let the dead bury their dead : but go thou and preach 
the kingdom of God." To a third, who proposed first to bid fare- 
well to those who were at his house, Christ replied: "No man 
having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God" (Luke 9 : 57-62). To the rich young man 
•who asked the question: "What lack I yet?" the Lord said : 

"If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to 
the poor . . . and come and follow me." But the young man 
went away from him sorrowful ; for he had great possessions 
(Matt. 19 : 16-22). 



296 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 133. The Labors of Christ as a Prophet. 

"And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. 
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it ivas 
written (Isaiah 61 : 1, 2) : The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor : he hath sent me 
to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and re- 
covering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to 
preach the acceptable year of the Lord. . . . And he began to say unto 
them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4: 17-21). 

1. The work of Christ as a prophet consisted in unfolding and 
proclaiming all the counsel and the gracious will of God respect- 
ing our salvation, inasmuch as the Law and the prophets of the 
Old Testament had merely opened the way for such instructions, 
and could teach in an imperfect manner only. " Think not/' he 
said, " that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am 
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5 : 17, 18). These words 
apply both to the Law and to the Prophets, and as well to the 
moral as to the ceremonial law, all of which constituted an organic 
and indivisible whole. The moral law was of vital importance, 
however, and was given for its own sake, while the ceremonial law 
and the promises were not given for their own sakes, but for the 
sake of Him to whom they specially referred. In this distinc- 
tion between the moral law on the one hand, and the ceremonial 
law and the promises on the other, the cause is found of the 
difference in the results when they are respectively fulfilled. 
When the moral law was fulfilled, its eternal inviolability was 
established, while the latter ceased to be obligatory when they 
were fulfilled. 

Obs. — Christ's fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets consisted 
both in words and in deeds, and it is precisely this essential union 
of doctrine and action that constitutes the difference between his 
labors as a prophet, and those of Moses and the prophets. The moral 
law which the Pharisees had perverted and divested of its essential 
contents, was fulfilled by him in his doctrine, inasmuch as he un- 
folded it in its whole fulness and depth, and traced and exhibited its 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 297 

reference to the inward sentiments of men. It was, at the same time, 
fulfilled bj him in his life, inasmuch as he complied with all its de- 
mands in the most perfect manner, both as an archetype (Kom. 5 : 
18, 19 ; Gal. 4 : 4, 5), and as an example (1 Pet. 2 : 21) of the human 
race. He fulfilled the ceremonial law and the prophetic promises 
allied to it, in his word and doctrine, inasmuch as he opened and 
fully set forth the deep and comprehensive meaning of these, either 
personally (as Luke 24 : 27, &c), or otherwise (John 16 : 7-15) ; he 
fulfilled both also in his life and actions, inasmuch as he actually 
and really exhibited in his own person all that was prefigured in the 
former and foretold in the latter. The ceremonial law was a shadow 
and type ; Christianity brought the very image of good things (Heb. 
10 : 1) ; hence, the type necessarily lost its significance and validity. 
It is abolished by being fulfilled. Thus the blossom passes away, 
and the fruit assumes its place ; but the latter is not at variance with 
the former — the fruit is rather the natural fulfilment and comple- 
tion of the blossom. 

2. "I am the truth/' said Christ (John 14 : 6); the 

apostle adds : u In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge" (Col. 2 : 3). He is the eternal, uncreated sun of 
truth ; all the rays of truth in the Old and in the New Testa- 
ment, and indeed among pagans as well as among Christians, 
have proceeded from him ; he is evermore the eternal source of 
light and of all truth. With respect to his labors as a teacher 
during his ministry on earth, it is accordant with truth to hold 
that the instructions which he personally delivered did not con- 
tain a complete description of the whole counsel of salvation, and 
that they were not so full as to impart all the religious knowledge 
which is necessary. The cause of this incompleteness is by no 
means to be traced to any want of knowledge in Christ himself, 
but exclusively to the low degree of intelligence of his hearers. 
He accordingly said to his disciples : " I have yet many things to 
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John 16 : 12). 
Nevertheless, he did not purpose that these instructions should 
be permanently withheld either from them or from us, for he im- 
mediately added : " Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is 
come, he will guide you into all truth." All that this Spirit of 
Christ accordingly taught the apostles afterwards, they proclaimed 
with the strictest fidelity and accuracy to their cotemporaries and 



298 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

to all succeeding generations both orally and in writing. — But at 
that time they could not bear all things, and, least of all, that 
which was of the highest importance, because they were not yet 
illuminated by the Spirit; for the Spirit was not poured out be- 
fore the work of redemption was accomplished (John 16 : 7 ; 7 : 
39). After the Spirit of Christ had, however, guided the apos- 
tles into all truth (16 : 13), and brought all things to their re- 
membrance, whatsoever Christ had said to them (14 : 26), without 
being understood by them, then their words, precisely like the 
Saviour's own words, conveyed his doctrine, " for," said he, " he 
(the Spirit) shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and 
shall shew it unto you" (16 : 14), and " he that heareth you, 
heareth me" (Luke 10 : 16). 

Obs. — While this incompleteness of the instructions delivered by 
Christ personally was occasioned by the inferior capacity of the dis- 
ciples, it was also justified by the peculiar nature of the work which 
he came to perform. That work by no means consisted exclusively, 
nor even chiefly, in teaching, for the instructions which he designed 
to impart to men were capable of being communicated by him 
through the agency of others, and for this purpose he accordingly 
sent forth the apostles into all the world. That peculiar work which 
he came into the world to perform, and which he alone, as God-man, 
could accomplish, was the atonement which he made for the world, 
and the renovation of the world, through his obedience, and through 
his sufferings, death and resurrection. 

§ 134. The Law preached by Christ. 

Matt. ch. 5-7. — Among the discourses of Christ which appear 
in a connected form, the Sermon on the Mount is the most ex- 
tensive and important. He delivered it in the presence of the 
people soon after he commenced his ministry, on a mountain, the 
name of which is not known. The opposition of Christian prin- 
ciples to the carnal views of the Jews respecting the kingdom of 
God, appears in every portion of the discourse. The Redeemer 
sketches in a lofty style the character of the children of the 
kingdom (5 : 3-12), the prominent feature of which is poverty 
in spirit (the beatitudes). He gives his disciples the commission 
to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. (5 : 13-16.) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 299 

After this introduction, he proceeds to show that it is his work to 
fulfil the law and the prophets. (5 : 17-19 j § 133. 1.) The 
Pharisaic mode of interpreting the law by referring it merely to 
the external act, is next contrasted with his own mode of inter- 
pretation which directs the view to the state of man's heart 
(killing, 5 : 21-26; adultery and divorce, 5 : 27-32; swearing, 
5 : 33-37; retaliation, 5 : 38-42; love to enemies, 5 : 42-48). 
He expresses his judgment of the Pharisaic righteousness which 
is derived from outward works (alms, 6 : 1-4; prayer, 6 : 5-15; 
fasting, 6 : 16-18). He warns against the accumulation of 
earthly treasures (6 : 19-21), against the cares and anxieties of 
Gentiles or pagans (6 : 24-34), and against uncharitable judg- 
ments. (7 : 1-5.) He invites his hearers to enter into heaven 
through the strait gate on the narrow road (7 : 13, 14), and 
warns against false doctrine and a faith which is without fruit 
(7 : 15-23). He concludes by comparing hearers of his word 
who are not also doers, to a house built upon the sand, and those 
who hear and do his sayings, to a house built upon a rock. 
(7 : 24-27.) 

Obs. — The chief difficulties which occur in the explanation of 
this sermon are those which are occasioned by the declarations re- 
ferring to oaths (5 : 33, &c), and to the law of retaliation (5 : 38, 
&c), " an eye for an eye, &c." The Redeemer seems to prohibit 
absolutely the swearing of an oath, and nevertheless responds to one 
uttered by the high-priest (Matt. 26 : 63, 64) ; thus too, he seems to 
abolish the law of retaliation, and nevertheless, he did not, at a later 
period, turn the other cheek to the officer who struck him, but said : 
" Why smitest thou me ?" (John 18 : 22, 23.) The magistrate, who 
can read no man's heart, is compelled, if he desires to ascertain the 
truth in the surest manner, to require an oath, which even the unbe- 
liever fears to violate, and which the Christian is not at liberty to 
decline. It the eyes of the latter, his mere " yea, yea" ought to be 
invested with the sanctity of an oath, and when that word is found 
to be sufficient, he is not permitted to have recourse to an oath. 
Christ's commandment respecting swearing is transgressed in the 
case of that oath alone which a man swears who would not speak 
the truth in its purity without an oath. Similar principles apply to 
the law of retaliation which is the basis of all legal rights ; the abro- 
gation of it would destroy all order and discipline, and, nevertheless, 
the declarations of Christ respecting it are positively obligatory and 



800 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

valid in the case of the Christian. For, even as an individual can 
transgress a command (in the heart) without doing outwardly that 
which it prohibits, so too he can fulfil these commandments before 
God (who looketh at the heart) even without doing outwardly that 
which they enjoin, when other considerations constrain him to adopt 
this latter course. Considerations proceeding from civil order and 
discipline may often render it proper to omit an external compliance 
with these demands. Like all prohibitions, all commands refer im- 
mediately and chiefly not to the external action, but to the senti- 
ments or feelings from which actions proceed. It is however of the 
utmost importance that the individual should exercise special care 
and prudence in guarding against self-deception, which is, in all 
these cases, most easily practised, but is always full of danger. 

§ 135. The Gospel preached by Christ. — His Witness of Himself 

Obs. — Two declarations of Christ respecting his witness of himself 
occur, which seem to contradict each other. On one occasion he 
said: " Though I bear record (or witness, (uaptfvpw) of myself, yet my 
record (witness) is true : for I know whence I came, and whither I 
go." (John 8 : 14.) On another occasion he said: "If I bear wit- 
ness duaptvpw) of myself, my witness is not true. There is another 
that beareth witness of me, .... the works which the Father hath 
given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, 
that the Father hath sent me." (John 5 : 31, 32, 36.) Both declara- 
tions are, however, reconciled by a third: "Believe me [my own wit" 
ness) that I am in the Father, and the Father in me : or else believe 
me for the very works' sake {that is, believe the witness of my Father)" 
(John 14 : 11). For the witness which an individual bears respect- 
ing himself is, according to the estimation in which he is held, the 
most worthy or the least worthy of credit of all classes of testi- 
mony. To the disciples and to all who did not close their eyes and 
hearts to the voice of that truth and holiness which invested his 
whole being, no witness respecting Christ could appear to be more 
worthy of credit and more reliable than his own: these he required 
to believe him for his word's sake. To those, on the contrary, on 
whom the holiness of his appearance had made no impression, either 
through their own fault, or through other causes, his witness of him- 
self was not an absolute demonstration of his truth : in their case 
the perfect credibility of his words could not be substantiated unless 
by evidence presented in another form — they are, consequently, 
referred to his tborks. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 301 

The Person of Christ is the central point of all evangelical 
knowledge and preaching, for the whole efficacy of the work of 
redemption which he performed, depends on the divinity of his 
person. That work of redeeming and renewing the human race 
could have been accomplished by him as God-man alone, and 
it is only through faith in him as the Son of God who became 
man, that we can obtain eternal life. It was, therefore, first of 
all necessary that the Redeemer should direct attention to the 
significance of his own Person. "While he frequently and in the 
most unequivocal terms, particularly by using the favorite appel- 
lation of " the Son of Man," gave prominence to the reality as 
well as the sinlessness of his human nature, he also ascribed to 
himself as frequently, distinctly and absolutely, the possession of 
a true divine nature, and of a perfect equality of being with the 
Father. u Which of you," he asked the Jews, " convinceth me 
of sin?" (John 8 : 46.) He ascribes to himself a divine nature, 
and divine attributes, and claims divine adoration, in equally clear 
terms. He called himself the only-begotten Son of God, and 
the Jews took up stones to stone him because he said " that God 
was his Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:18; 
10 : 33.) He said : " I and my Father are one." (John 10 : 30.) 
" He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." (14 : 9.) " As 
the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to 
have life in himself." (5 : 26.) u The Father .... hath com- 
mitted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor 
the Son, even as they honor the Father." (5 : 22, 23. "Before 
Abraham was, I am." (8 : 58.) In the prayer which he offered 
as our high-priest, he speaks of " the glory which he had with 
the Father before the world was." (17 : 5.) He attested his 
divine Messiahship with an oath before the high-priest, shortly 
before his death (Matt. 26 : 63), and, referring to his exaltation, 
he said : " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18 : 20.) "I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (28 : 20.) 
"All power is given to me in heaven and in earth" (28 : 18) ; &c 
26 



302 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§136. Continuation. — Of Ms Redeeming Work. 

Obs. — With respect to the mystery of the Redemption which was 
to be accomplished, Christ did not give fall and complete instruc- 
tions, but only certain intimations occasionally, which were generally 
expressed in a gnomic or sententious form, as well as in parables ; 
even when these were not fully understood by the hearer, they were 
still retained with ease in his memory, and guided his subsequent 
meditations. For this subject was pre-eminently one of the " many 
things" (John 16 : 12) which his disciples could not yet bear, and 
even the few expressions which he uttered in reference to it, were 
not altogether understood by them, until after the completion of his 
work. The Redeemer therefore contented himself with sowing in 
the hearts of his disciples the living and productive seed of the Word, 
which in its own season brought forth, by the watchful care of the 
Holy Spirit, the fruit of saving knowledge and doctrine. 

1. The most comprehensive and significant of his declarations 
occurs in Matt. 5 : 17, 18 (see above, § 134), in which he shows 
that it is his work to fulfil the law and the prophets. He also 
said that he had come into the world, in order " that whosoever 
believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life/' 
(John 3 : 16.) He compared his work to that of a physician, 
and said : " They that are whole need not a physician ; but they 
that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance." (Luke 5 : 31, 32.) He applies the name of a 
shepherd to himself: "I am the good shepherd: the good shep- 
herd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10 : 11.) He de- 
scribes himself as "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 
14 : 6); as "the light of the world" (8 : 12 ; 9:5; 12 : 46); 
and as " the bread of life." (6 : 35.) He showed the importance 
and necessity of his sufferings, death and resurrection (Mark 8 : 
31, and John 3 : 14, the lifting up of the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, § 55. 3, Obs. ; the sign of the prophet Jonas, Matt. 12 : 
39-41, § 100. 5, Obs.), and declared that his death would be a 
vicarious death and sacrifice; "The Son of man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many." (Matt, 20 : 28.) " This is my blood ; shed for many for 
the remission of sins." (26 : 28.) "The bread that I will give 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 303 

is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. " (John 
6 : 51.) " I lay down my life for the sheep/' (10 : 15.) 

Obs. — When Christ used the following language, which his dis- 
ciples did not fully understand until after his resurrection : " De- 
stroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2 : 19), 
he not only announced his death and resurrection, but also referred 
to the essential relation of the temple of stone to the temple of his 
body. For when his body was broken, in which the whole fulness 
of the Godhead dwelt in reality and truth, as it had dwelt symboli- 
cally in the Tabernacle and the Temple, that Temple of stone with 
its worship lost all significance and was broken in all its internal 
purposes, although it continued to stand outwardly forty years longer. 
For by the sacrifice and death of Christ a sacrifice of eternal va- 
lidity was offered and the typical sacrifice was abolished. And 
when, on rising from the dead on the third day, he resumed the 
temple of his body, renewed and glorified, he thereby raised up a 
new and glorified temple, wherein " the true worshippers worship 
the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4 : 23), and wherein all 
have access unto the throne of grace. (Heb. 4 : 16.) 

2. The original and permanent demands which the Lord ad- 
dresses to all who desire to partake of the redemption that is in 
him (Eom. 3 : 24), are — Repentance and Faith (Matt. 4 : 17 ; 
Mark 1 : 15), unconditional self-denial, and renunciation of the 
world, and a complete dedication of themselves to his cause. 
(Matt. 10 : 37, 38.) He taught that his people must necessarily 
enter into an essential communion of life with him, and, indeed, 
in a certain manner, grow into his life : "lam the vine," said 
he, "ye are the branches : he that abideth in me, and I in him, 
the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do 
nothing. (John 15 : 5.) The means which he sets forth to all 
as those by which they may enter into this communion of life 
with him, and be established and maintained therein, are regene- 
ration of water and of the Spirit (John 3 : 3-6, § 189), and the 
eating and drinking of his flesh and blood : " Except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath 
eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my 
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (John 6 : 
53-55. § 190.) 



304 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 137. Continuation. — Of his Kingdom. 

Obs. — When the Redeemer described the various states and de* 
velopments of his kingdom, he very frequently adopted the parabolic 
mode of instruction, which was, indeed, suggested by the subject 
itself; for in the development of the kingdom of God on earth in 
the main, the same essential laws are observed, which regulate every 
organic development of terrestrial life. Those who possessed suffi- 
cient susceptibility and capacity in general to understand the mys- 
terious course of the kingdom of God, obtained deeper and clearer 
views of these mysteries from the parable than from abstract lessons: 
while the same mode of instruction involved these mysteries in 
deeper obscurity in the presence of an uninitiated and insusceptible 
mind. Hence Christ replied to the disciples who desired to know 
his motive when he spoke in parables: "Unto you it is given to know 
the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, 
all these things are done in parables : that seeing they may see, and 
not perceive, &c." (Mark 4 : 9-12.) The Redeemer therefore illus- 
trated in his own conduct the command : " Give not that which is 
holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest 
they trample them under their feet, &c." (Matt. 7:6.) 

1. The seven parables concerning the kingdom in Matt. ch. 13 
describe the development of the kingdom of God with unusual 
fulness. The first, of the sower and the seed, contemplates, accord- 
ing to the Lord's own exposition of it, the word of the Gospel as 
the element or principle among men by which they are begotten 
unto the kingdom of heaven and regenerated, and the hearts of 
men as the ground in which the seed of the new creature that is 
born of God, is sown ; it shows that the difference in the results 
proceeds from the different degrees of susceptibility in the ground. 
The second, of the tares, which is also explained by the Lord him- 
self, exhibits the relation which the kingdom of God sustains to 
the kingdom of evil, and teaches that the latter likewise must 
necessarily be unfolded fully and completely, together with the 
former, in order that it may ripen for its overthrow and judg- 
ment. The third, of the mustard-seed, describes the manner in 
which the kingdom of heaven, after an unpretending beginning, 
is gradually unfolded, until it exercises a widely-felt influence. 
The fourth, of the leaven, also refers to the unpretending begin- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 305 

ning of the kingdom of heaven, but gives greater prominence to 
the inward development of the latter, or its divine power, in 
gradually penetrating into the hearts of all, and effecting an in- 
ward change, that is, assimilating them to itself. The fifth, of 
the hidden treasure, and the sixth, of the pearl, represent the 
kingdom of God, as the most precious treasure, although it is 
hidden and neglected by the world, and teaches both that the 
possession of this treasure is worthy of being sought for with the 
most costly sacrifices and rigid self-denial, and also that, without 
these, it cannot be acquired. The seventh, of the net cast into 
the sea, which bears a close affinity to the second, teaches that, 
even in the Church, as the institution in which the children of 
the kingdom are gathered and sanctified, the children of darkness 
are also found, and will remain, until, on the day of judgment, 
the latter will be separated from the former and consigned to eter- 
nal ruin. 

2. The Redeemer presented in different aspects the relation 
sustained to his kingdom by the obdurate, self-righteous and car- 
nal Pharisaism of the times, which exercised a controlling influ- 
ence over the Jews. He said openly and plainly : " The king- 
dom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bring- 
ing forth the fruits thereof ' (Matt. 21 : 43), and he testified that 
the last should be first, and the first last (19 : 30; 20 : 10). This 
remarkable fact is abundantly illustrated in history. Judaism, to 
which the inheritance and the promise belonged, hardened itself 
more and more unequivocally against the salvation which pro- 
ceeded from its midst, for u salvation is of the Jews" (John 4 : 
22). It was therefore rejected, or, at least, Paganism entered 
before it into the kingdom of God (§ 119). The latter had fallen 
more deeply, and had departed further from God ; but it now re- 
turned in sincere repentance, and sought salvation with an earnest 
desire. These events are described in the clearest manner in 
many discourses and parables of the Lord. Thus, in the parable 
of the vineyard' (Matt. 21 : 33, &c. — a vineyard planted by a 
householder, carefully secured, &c, and let out to husbandmen) 
the Lord describes in expressive language Israel's election, de- 
generacy and rejection. On the occasion on which Christ sought 
fruit on a fig-tree and found nothing but leaves only, for which 



306 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

he cursed it, a real occurrence took place, which, even more em- 
phatically than a parable in words, described the Jews ; they 
exhibited, not the fruits of faith, but merely the leaves of self- 
righteousness and of merit acquired by outward works (Matt. 21 : 
18, &c.). 

3. There is a special reference (although it may not be directly 
indicated by the connection) to the introduction of pagans into 
the kingdom of God, in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15 : 
11, &c. ; § 21. 1), and also in the parable of the two sons (Matt. 
21 : 28, &c. — two sons are sent by their father into the vine- 
yard ; the one refuses to obey, but afterward repents and obeys, 
the other promises, but disobeys). The parable of the marriage 
of the king's son (Matt. 22 : 1, &c), and that of the great supper 
(Luke 14 : 16, &c), which resembles the former, illustrate the 
manner in which the Jews reject the salvation that is offered to 
them first, on which account they are rejected themselves. The 
parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matt. 20 : 1, &c), in 
which the householder hires laborers at different hours of the 
day, and gives the same amount of wages to the last as to the 
first, teaches that the heathen nations which are called at a late 
period, shall enjoy equal privileges in the kingdom of Christ with 
the people of the covenant who were first called. It is, however, 
to be observed with respect to all these parables, that while they 
refer to whole nations and long periods of time, they admit and 
require, with equal reason, an interpretation according to which 
they may refer to individuals in all ages also ; for the facts which 
occur in the process of the education and development of the 
whole human race are repeated in that of the education and de- 
velopment of the individual. 

§ 188. Christ s Miraculous Power in general. 

1. The dominion over terrestrial nature which had been as- 
signed to the first man and his race (Gen. 1 : 26-28), was lost 
through sin ; this loss disturbed the true relation subsisting 
between nature and spirit. It was needful that the second Adam, 
who took the place of the first, should recover this lost dominion, 
and possess it even in a higher degree; for, while in the case of 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 307 

the first Adam merely a peaceful, undisturbed and harmonious 
development was contemplated, it was, besides, necessary, in the 
case of the second Adam, that all existing hostile powers and cir- 
cumstances should be overcome. Human nature in its present 
form, in its total inability and helplessness, could accomplish 
nothing, and as the human nature of Christ was like our own 
(§ 126. Obs.), he could not recover that lost dominion, unless he 
possessed supernatural powers \ but he did recover it, inasmuch 
as all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in his human 
nature. In this personal union of the creative Word with the 
second Adam, or the man Jesus, that lost dominion of man is 
not merely restored, but it is also endowed with power in the 
highest degree — a power that overcomes all obstacles, and re- 
news all that is destroyed. Herein consists the miraculous power 
of Christ. In the first man the dominion of the spirit over nature, 
which was originally designed for him, could not have appeared 
as a miraculous power, for the exercise of it would have been a 
natural, common and daily occurrence. In Christ, on the con- 
trary, this dominion necessarily assumed the character of a power 
to work miracles, for human inability had now become a natural 
and common feature, while the exercise of the power of dominion 
assumed the appearance of a supernatural event. 

Obs. 1, — Christ's miracles of knowledge proceeded from the same 
source to which his miracles of action are ascribed. To the former 
belongs his clear, unerring and decided glance, whether it was 
directed to a future period, or a remote spot, or the heart of man. 
" He needed not that any should testify of man : for he knew what 
was in man" (John 2 : 25). 

Obs. 2. — The prophets before Christ, and the apostles after his 
day, performed miracles, some of which resembled his own. The 
difference between their miracles and his own consisted in the cir- 
cumstance that miraculous powers were merely communicated to 
them from a foreign source, and the exercise or possession was only 
momentary or transitory ; but in Christ these powers flowed from his 
own being, and were uninterrupted and permanent, because they 
were founded on the personal and permanent union of his divine and 
his human nature. 

Obs. 3. — As Christ himself declared that he did not know all 
things (Mark 13 : 32), it may be also admitted that he could not do 



308 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

all things, although no instance of the latter inability occurs. But in 
both cases the reference is naturally to his state of humiliation alone, 
or the period in which he dwelt on earth ; during that time all the 
fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, it is true, but, without 
appearing in the form of God (that is, the eternal, supermundane 
form of existence, Phil. 2 : 6, 7), it ministered to his human nature. 
For even as sin and misery came forth from man (the first Adam), 
so, too, redemption and salvation necessarily came forth from the 
nature of man (of the second Adam). That nature, however, could 
not produce such results without being personally united and en- 
dowed with the fulness of the Godhead. Now, while the divinity of 
Christ ministered to his humanity, it ministered only in so far as 
the latter needed the former in accomplishing the work of the re- 
demption and renewal of man ; all that lay beyond these limits, 
Christ as the Son of God had indeed the power to perform, but, as 
the Son of man, he had laid aside the exercise of that power, until 
his whole work should be completed. 

2. As the occasional miracles of the prophets of the Old Testa- 
ment proved that these were messengers of G-od, so Jesus was 
declared to be the Messiah and the Son of God by his uninter- 
rupted and permanent miraculous powers, that is, by his whole 
miraculous appearance. "I have greater witness/' said he, "than 
that of John : for the works which the Father hath given me to 
finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, t-hat the 
Father hath sent me" (John 5 : 36; see also 10 : 37, 38; 14 : 
11, 12, &c). It is not, however, when viewed in this aspect ex- 
clusively, or even chiefly, that the miracles of Christ acquire the 
significant character which they possess, or, in other words, Christ 
did not work miracles simply for the purpose of demonstrating 
that he was the Messiah, but chiefly because miracles in them- 
selves necessarily belonged to his Messianic work, or his labors in 
restoring and redeeming the human race. Sin had caused misery, 
sickness and death to enter into the life of mankind, and occa- 
sioned many disturbances in the life of nature; the work assigned 
to Christ consisted in removing entirely the consequences of sin, 
and exhibiting the true relation between nature and spirit. It is 
true that these results in their whole extent and completeness can- 
not be obtained previous to the actual termination of the present 
course of this world, when that new life which Christ has im- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 309 

parted to men shall have fully and completely penetrated and 
transformed them. Nevertheless, it was both possible and requi- 
site that at least the actual beginning of this perfect redemption, 
and the types and pledges of it ; should then already be manifested. 

Obs. 1. — The fact that the miracles of Christ did not merely serve 
to demonstrate his truth to the people, but that they also possessed 
an essential significance in themselves, conveys many lessons. We 
thence learn to understand his motives in never yielding to that 
thirst for miracles by which those were controlled who surrounded 
him, and who desired to see that only which was unprecedented, 
striking and singular (as in Matt. 12 : 38; 16 : 1-4; Luke 23 : 8, 
&c). We are, further, enabled to appreciate the fact that his mira- 
cles were never merely extraordinary acts occurring without any 
object, but were always the expression of his ardent desire to perform 
acts of kindness, to aid, to save and to redeem. And we can also 
thence explain the circumstance that in those cases in which he found 
no faith in the individuals before him, or in which merely external 
bodily relief was sought, and the corresponding spiritual relief was 
not desired, he would not and could not perform miracles (Matt. 13 : 
58; Mark 6 : 5). 

Obs. 2.— -The circumstance may surprise us that Christ frequently 
charged those who saw his miracles, particularly when he healed the 
sick, to tell no man (as in Matt. 9 : 30 ; 12 : 16 ; 16 : 20 ; Mark 1 : 
.44; 3 : 12, &c), while, on other occasions, he exhorted them to make 
known all that had been done (as in Mark 5 : 19). The ultimate 
cause, however, may be traced partly to the people and partly to the 
individuals themselves who had been healed. In consequence of his 
deep insight into the character and the state of the heart of each 
person whom he healed, he gave that particular charge to each which 
was best adapted to exercise a salutary influence on his spiritual life. 
The one was commanded to be silent, in order that, remote from all 
that could distract his attention, he might without disturbance 
examine his heart, and cherish the seed of salvation in retirement. 
Another was commanded to speak, in order that he might not be un- 
mindful of the grace which he had experienced, and of the gratitude 
which was due. Still, the cause may, possibly, be traced chiefly to 
the perverted tendencies of the people. He doubtless desired to with- 
hold all encouragement from the foolish thirst for miracles and the 
carnal Messianic expectations of the people, and to afford his enemies 
no occasion to adopt active measures affecting his person and his life, 
before 1m hour was come. 



310 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 139. Christ's Miraculous Power over Nature. 

We begin with those miracles which exhibit Christ's royal do- 
minion over terrestrial nature, as the first of all the miracles 
which he wrought — the turning of water into wine at a marriage 
in Cana of Galilee (John ch. 2) — belongs to this class. This 
miracle was not so much the expression of a creative power (by 
which that which had no existence previously is brought into 
existence), as of an absolute omnipotent dominion over powers of . 
nature which already existed. The power of turning water into 
wine already exists in nature, but is usually confined to the instru- 
mentality of the vine. This power of nature, like all others, was 
subject to the control of the Redeemer. A similar case occurred 
when 5000 men were fed with a few loaves and fishes (Matt. 14 : 
13, &c. ; and see 15 : 32, &c), except that the miraculous power 
of the Redeemer was exercised in the present instance much more 
extensively. — The miracle on the sea of Galilee, also belongs to 
this class (Matt. 8 : 23, &c. ; Mark 4 : 36, &c. ; Luke 8 : 22, 
&c). The Lord who was sleeping was awakened by the cries of 
distress of the disciples: "Lord, save us: we perish." Con- 
scious of his dominion over nature, he rebuked the wind and the 
raging of the water : " Peace, be still." A great calm imme- 
diately followed, and the men exclaimed : u What manner of man 
is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" — On another 
occasion (Matt. 14 : 22, &c), the disciples were in a ship in the 
midst of the sea, when the waters were disturbed by a contrary 
wind ; then, too, Christ, as he walked on the sea, and approached 
his disciples, manifested his dominion over nature, and even im- 
parted his miraculous power to Peter, as long as the fear of the 
latter did not overcome his faith. When the Lord was come 
into the ship, and the wind ceased, they that were in it wor- 
shipped him and said : " Of a truth thou art the Son of God." 

Obs. — The miracle in Cana, " manifested forth his glory ;" it also 
displayed the contrast between the kindness and love of the most 
gracious of the children of men and the strictness and rigor of the 
law which it was requisite that John the Baptist should exemplify 
(see Matt. 11 : 18, 19). The words which Jesus addressed to his 
mother : " Woman, what have I to do with thee ?" (word for word : 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 311 

"What to me and thee?") seem to be abrupt and harsh only when 
they are read in the German [and in the English] version. The term 
which he employed ("woman" instead of ''mother"), was intended 
to remind her that a change had occurred in the relation which she 
formerly sustained to him (compare Matt. 12 : 46-49). As soon as 
Jesus, after being anointed from on high as the Messiah, had com- 
menced his ministry, his position in reference to his mother was 
altered. He ceased to be a son whom duty required to submit to 
the authority of earthly parents, and now appeared as the Redeemer 
of all mankind, and, consequently, of Mary also ; she too was called 
by duty to bend her knees before him in adoration. — The important 
distinction between the two occasions on which multitudes were 
miraculously fed, is indicated in Matt. 16 : 9-11. 

§ 140. Christ Healing the Sick. 

Obs. — Man is elevated above nature in so far as he is endowed 
with a spirit, but when he is viewed as a being endowed with a body 
and a soul, he belongs to nature. ($ 10. 1.) Now if an absolute 
dominion even over terrestrial and animal nature, which was less in- 
timately connected with the human spirit, was nevertheless imparted 
to the latter, that spirit certainly received as fully dominion over the 
nature of its own (corporeal-psychical) organism. But in both re- 
spects sin exercised a disturbing and destructive influence ; it de- 
stroyed the inward harmony of human life, perverted the true rela- 
tion between body, soul and spirit, and introduced discord and 
disunion, sickness and death into the human organism. ($ 12.) The 
redemption of which Christ was the author, was intended to coun- 
teract and remove entirely these results of sin, as well as all others 
which it produced. We see the commencement, the types and the 
pledges of this redemption in all those cases in which Christ healed 
the sick and raised the dead ; for the power by which he will here- 
after altogether annihilate the influence of death was at that time 
already exercised in subduing sickness and death. 

1. The first, and indeed, the most important condition which 
the Redeemer proposed when he healed the sick, was the exer- 
cise of faith on the part of the latter, and of their immediate 
friends also, in certain cases. The healing of the body was sub- 
ordinate to the higher purpose of bestowing grace upon the soul, 
and hence Christ seldom omitted to direct attention to the connec- 
tion between faith and the bodily relief which he afforded : " My 



312 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

son, my daughter, thy faith hath saved thee." He healed by 
means of a power (pvvapig, " virtue/' Luke 6 : 19 ) 8 : 46, &c), 
which went out of him and passed over to the sick. He caused 
this power to operate upon them, either through the medium of 
an earthly element, or by directly touching them (often laying 
his hands upon them, Mark 6 : 5), or, without touching them, 
merely through his word as the vehicle of the power. The mo- 
tives of the Redeemer in adopting different modes in different 
cases, were not influenced by peculiarities in the diseases them- 
selves, but by the spiritual state of those whom he healed. 

2. The evangelists have described a proportionally small num- 
ber only of the many cases in which Christ healed the sick, and 
even of these we can here refer only to a few of the most impor- 
tant. The case of the restoration to sight of a man who was 
born blind, described in John ch. 9, is particularly worthy of at- 
tention, both on account of the explanations to which it led re- 
specting the connection between sickness and sin, and on account 
of the mode of healing; "he spat on the ground — made clay — 
anointed the eyes of the blind man, &c." The course which the 
Pharisees subsequently pursued in reference to the man and his 
parents, gives additional interest to the case. A similar mode 
of healing, combined with the laying on of his hands, was em- 
ployed in the case of another blind man (Mark 8 : 22, &c.) and 
of a deaf man. (7 : 33, &c.) The woman who had an issue of 
blood, and whose strong faith was unfolded in the most affecting 
manner, was healed by simply touching his garment. (Luke 8 : 
43, &c.) In the case of the Roman centurion's dying servant 
in Capernaum (in Galilee), the Saviour, without approaching and 
touching the sufferer, caused his healing power to operate at a 
distance. On this occasion the centurion's faith, which was as 
fttrong as it was humble ("Lord, trouble not thyself — I am not 
worthy — say in a word, and my servant shall be healed, &c"), 
received the noble testimony: "I have not found so great faith, 
no, not in Israel." (Luke 7 : 1-10.) The account of the healing 
of the son of a nobleman (who was in Herod's service), in Caper- 
naum, possesses some features analogous to those of the former 
with respect to the mode, but also exhibits a striking contrast in 
the nobleman's weak faith and in the words of rebuke which the 
Lord uttered. (John 4 : 46, &c.) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 318 



§ 141. Christ Raising the Dead. 

1. Among the miracles of Jesus, three cases occurred in which 
he restored the dead to life. Jairus, one of the rulers of the 
synagogue in Capernaum, besought the Redeemer to enter his 
house and heal his daughter, who was of the age of twelve years ; 
she was then lying at the point of death. While Jesus was occu- 
pied on the road with the woman who had an issue of blood, cer- 
tain messengers brought the tidings to the father that his daugher 
had expired. Christ significantly termed her death a sleep, for 
in the presence of him who raised the dead, death was nothing 
more than a sleep. He entered the house and recalled the child 
to life, saying, " Talitha curni," that is, " Damsel, arise. " (Mark 
5 : 22, &c.) — As the Lord was approaching the gate of the city 
of Nain, he saw the corpse of the only son of a widow carried 
forth. He had compassion on her, and said : " Weep not." 
He turned to the bier, and said to the dead man : " Young man, 
T say unto thee, Arise." And be that was dead sat up, and be- 
gan to speak. (Luke 7 : 11-16.) 

2. John ch. 11. — The last and most remarkable miracle of this 
class is the restoration to life of Lazarus, the brother of Mary 
and Martha, in Bethany. It is the most splendid of all these 
miracles of Christ — for Lazarus had lain in the grave four days 
already ; the most significant — for it gave to intelligent spectators 
the deepest views of the central point of his redeeming work \ 
and the most momentous — for the extraordinary sensation which 
it produced, was the immediate cause which urged his enemies to 
adopt measures promptly for removing him from their midst. — 
The sisters send to him, saying : u Lord, behold, he whom thou 
lovest, is sick." Conscious as he is of the result, he answers : 
" This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that 
the Son of God might be glorified thereby," and, holding the 
issue in his own hand, he abides with seeming indifference two 
days longer in the same place. After that, he says to his dis- 
ciples : " Let us go into Judea again .... our friend Lazarus 
sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." On 
perceiving, however, that they misunderstand him, and refer his 

27 



314 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

words to the taking of rest in sleep, he plainly says : " Lazarus 
is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to 
the intent ye may believe. " Martha hastens to receive him; she 
is grieved on account of his late arrival, but is, nevertheless, full 
of hope and faith. Then Jesus said: "1 am the resurrection 
and the life : he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live : and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall 
never die." He proceeds to the grave. At the command of him 
who raises the dead (" Lazarus, come forth"), death restores his 
prey. Then Jesus goeth to suffer death himself, and to pass 
through death unto life, so that his words : "lam the resurrec- 
tion, and the life," may receive their most glorious and complete 
fulfilment. 

§ 142. The Demoniacs. 

1. The terrible form of disease designated by the term de- 
moniacal possession, appeared with greater frequency than usual, 
during the days in which Christ lived. Cases of this kind are 
explained, not merely according to the prevailing popular opinion, 
but also according to the views and declarations of Christ, in the 
following manner : the personality of an evil spirit (a demon, 
whence the persons thus affected are called Demoniacs), while 
suppressing the human personality of an individual, takes posses- 
sion of his corporeal-psychical organism, and misuses it in pro- 
ducing unnatural and destructive manifestations of life. The 
work of Christ to which he was called, specially required, there- 
fore, that he, who had come to destroy all the works of the devil 
(I. John 3 : 8), should meet and, like a victor, subdue this hor- 
rible manifestation of the power of darkness. 

Obs. — The following explanatory remarks may aid in placing cases 
of this kind in a clearer light. If the first man, Adam (and, in and 
with him, his whole race), had chosen to adopt a course conformable 
to his destination, human life would have unfolded itself in security 
and repose, and have exhibited harmony and unity in all the acts of 
the body, the soul, and the spirit ; the whole being of man would 
have constituted a perfect and complete unity, surrounded by the 
presence of God, and secure from every external hostile disturbance. 
But when sin destroyed the equilibrium and harmony of man's being, 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 315 

the immediate result was, that the spirit of man was expelled from 
its true position and — as the spirit is the central point and the point 
of union of human nature — this disturbance extended to the cor- 
poreal-psychical region, in which it manifested itself as sickliness, 
and was consummated in the form of bodily death. Thus sin dis- 
solved the ties between the body and the soul, and between the soul 
and the spirit ; the entire organism was thereafter open to hostile 
influences of every description. Now if pernicious influences derived 
from the life of nature, such as epidemics, poisons, &c, are able to 
invade the human organism, and extort involuntary, unnatural and 
destructive manifestations of life, why may not the personal powers 
of darkness also be able to take possession of it in a similar manner ? 
As in the case of the former, so also in the case of the latter, we 
may assume that a certain predisposition or susceptibility exists; 
but it is obvious that no man can presume to determine whether, or 
in what degree, the latter is the consequence of the individual's own 
particular offence. — It belongs to that school of medicine which is 
animated by Christian faith, to answer the question whether the form 
of disease known as demoniacal possession was peculiar to the age 
of Jesus, or whether it has also appeared in later times, and even in 
our own day. In the former case, it would be easy to understand 
the circumstance that the power of darkness attained unusual promi- 
nence and extent, precisely at the time when it was defeated by the 
appearance and the redeeming work of Christ. If, however, science 
should even decide that such cases have occurred since the days of 
Christ, the circumstance that they are at least extremely rare under 
the Gospel dispensation, when compared with their frequency at a 
former period, would afford evidence in this respect also of the blessed 
influence of Christianity, and be a pledge to us that all the influences 
and assaults of the power of darkness will hereafter cease entirely. 

2. The following are the most important of the cases in which 
demoniacs were healed. While Jesus was teaching on the sab- 
Dath-day in the synagogue in Capernaum, " as one that had au- 
thority, and not as the scribes/' a demoniac who was present 
oegan to cry : " Let us alone ; what have we to do with thee, 
thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art thou come to destroy us ? I know 
tiiee who thou art, the Holy One of God." Thus even the power 
of darkness, overcome by the presence of the Holy One, was com- 
pelled to bear witness of him : but the Lord refused to receive 
Buch witness, and said to the unclean spirit : " Hold thy peace, 
and come out of him." Then the demon, after he had torn the 



316 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

man, came out of him (Mark 1 : 21-27). — A still more extraor- 
dinary event occurred in the country of the Gadarenes (Gerge- 
senes), in Peraea. As Jesus, after crossing the sea of Galilee, 
was leaving the ship, he was observed by a demoniac who had 
often in his frenzy torn fetters and chains asunder, and who en- 
dured appalling agonies in the neighboring tombs in which he 
found shelter. Here, too, the presence of the Redeemer was im- 
mediately felt, and produced a strange and fearful conflict between 
the wretched man's own personality and one that had taken pos- 
session of him. He ran towards Jesus, worshipped him, and 
cried with a loud voice : " What have I to do with thee, Jesus, 
thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that 
thou torment me not." The psychical distraction of this man 
required a peculiar and very careful mode of treatment. This fact 
explains the unexpected question of the Redeemer : " What is 
thy name ?" and the permission which he granted to the demons, 
who were many in number, to enter into the swine that were feed- 
ing on a declivity of the mountain. As soon as the swine felt the 
foreign influence which seized them, they ran violently down into 
the sea. The owners of the herd, in place of deriving a spiritual 
gain from this temporal loss, besought the Lord to depart out of 
their coasts (Mark 5 : 1-17). — On another occasion, while the 
Lord was on the mount of transfiguration (§ 145. 2) with three 
of his disciples, a demoniac child was brought by his father to 
the other disciples at the foot of the mount ; the demoniacal pos- 
session of the boy was manifested by the most frightful convul- 
sions. The disciples in vain attempted to heal him. When Jesus 
came down to the multitude, he rebuked the father and all who 
were near him, on account of their unbelief, and commanded that 
the boy should be brought to him. When the unclean spirit saw 
him, he cried and rent the child sore. To the father whose weak 
faith exclaimed " If thou canst do any thing, have compassion 
on us, and help us/' Christ replied, " If thou canst believe ; all 
things are possible to him that believeth." Then a deep feeling 
of his need of faith was awakened in the father, and, with an 
ardent desire to obtain it, he said with tears : " Lord, I believe ; 
help thou mine unbelief." At that moment the Lord commanded 
the foul spirit to come out of the child. When his disciples 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 817 

asked him afterwards : " Why could not we cast him out V) he 
answered : " Because of your unbelief . . . this kind goeth not 
out, but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17 : 14, &c. ; Mark 9 : 
14, &c; Luke 9 : 37, &c). 

§ 143. The Extent of the Labors of the Redeemer. 

1. The Redeemer designedly confined his labors to the people 
of the covenant. He said himself: " I am not sent but unto the , 
lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15 : 24), and he im- 
posed the same restriction on his disciples, until his ascension to 
heaven should occur. " Go not," said he, " into the way of the 
Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But 
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10 : 5, 
6). His present labors were merely introductory, and hence, like 
all the Old Testament preparations of salvation, as well as for 
similar reasons (§ 21. 1), they were limited to the seed of Abra- 
ham. But he repeatedly declared, plainly and distinctly, that 
these barriers should hereafter be removed. " Other sheep I 
have," said he, " which are not of this fold : them also I must 
bring, and they shall hear niy voice ; and there shall be one fold, 
and one shepherd" (John 10 : 16). He even declared, in the 
plainest terms, that the Gentiles should enter into the kingdom 
of God before the people of the covenant, who persisted in harden- 
ing their hearts (§ 119 ; § 137. 2). He accordingly gave an ex- 
press command to his disciples, immediately before his ascension, 
that they should extend their labors to all the nations of the 
earth (Mark 16 : 15; Matt, 28 : 19; Acts 9 : 15). 

2. It was only in certain special cases that he afforded relief 
and gave instructions to Gentiles and Samaritans. He was con- 
strained, on these few occasions, to depart from his usual course 
by the faith which he beheld, and which, by its power and depth, 
put Israel to shame. Analogous instances occur in the Old Tes- 
tament (Naaman ; the people of Nineveh, &c). The centurion 
of Capernaum is an instance (§ 140. 2). Another is furnished 
by the Syrophenician woman (Matt. 15 : 22, &c. ; Mark 7 : 24, 
&c.). The latter would not suffer herself to be repelled by the 
apparently harsh and offensive words : " It is not meet to take 

27* 



318 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the children's bread and to cast it to dogs;" she was only urged 
by them, agreeably to the Lord's real intention, to express her 
faith the more unequivocally, as she did in those terms of deep 
and touching humility : " Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their masters' table." — At another time 
he instructed the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well near Sychar 
(Shechem), concerning the water of life and the time when the 
true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth ; he abode two days with the Samaritans of that city, of 
whom many believed, and said to the woman : " Now we believe, 
not because of thy saying : for we have heard him ourselves, and 
know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" 
(John ch. 4). — Of the ten lepers whom Christ healed (Luke 17 : 
12-19), the only one who returned to give him thanks and glorify 
God, was a Samaritan (compare here also the narrative concern- 
ing the good Samaritan, Luke 10 : 30, &c). 

§ 144. The Immediate Results of the Labors of Christ. 

1. The authority with which the Redeemer taught, and the 
signs and wonders which he did, soon produced a great sensation 
among the people, and they acknowledged that a higher power 
dwelt in him. They were astonished at his doctrine, and even 
if, on account of their carnal views and feelings which regarded 
external things alone, they could not comprehend the meaning of 
his deep discourses, but on many occasions grossly perverted it, 
nevertheless they testified that he taught as one that had au- 
thority, and not as the scribes (Mark 1 : 22). They asked : 
u Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? 
(Matt. 13 : 54.) What new doctrine is this ? for with authority 
commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him 
(Mark 1 : 27). Of a truth this is the Prophet. This is the 
Christ. Never man spake like this man" (John 7 : 40, 41, 46). 
They feared exceedingly, they glorified God, and many believed 
on him when they saw the signs which he did. The sick, the 
lame, the blind, those possessed with unclean spirits, lunatics, 
&c, were brought to him from all directions, and he healed them 
Large masses of people, governed merely by an idle wish to see 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 319 

his miracles, surrounded him, and it was often with difficulty 
that he withdrew from their importunities. If he had not exer- 
cised the utmost care and prudence, they would, long before the 
appropriate time had arrived, have publicly declared him to be the 
Messianic king (see, for instance, John 6 : 15). 

2. But, on the other hand, he also encountered on the part of 
the unstable and carnal people much opposition, violent contra- 
dictions and actual persecution. They were offended when he 
spoke in terms of rebuke of their perverted and unbelieving mind, 
and declared them to be unfit to enter into the kingdom of God 
or when he refused to indulge their thirst for miracles and fulfil 
their false Messianic hopes. They called him a gluttonous man, 
and a wine-bibber, because he did not sanction their self-right- 
eousness and hypocrisy; and a friend of publicans and sinners, 
because he showed kindness to repenting sinners (Matt. 11 : 19). 
They persecuted him, and sought to slay him, because he healed 
on the sabbath-day (John 5 : 16), and attempted to stone him 
(10 : 31), because he called himself the Son of God. When he 
exposed the vanity of their dependence on their bodily descent 
from Abraham, they answered : " Say we not well that thou art 
a Samaritan, and hast a devil ?" (John 8 : 48). When he re- 
proved them, in the synagogue in Nazareth, on account of their 
unbelief, they were filled with wrath, and led him to the brow 
of the hill that they might cast him down headlong, but, passing 
through the midst of them, he went his way (Luke 4 : 28-30). 

3. Even less esteem was manifested for him in Galilee where 
he passed the largest portion of his time, insomuch that he him- 
self testified : "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own 
country, and in his own house" (Matt. 13 : 57). He upbraided 
the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because 
they repented not. " Wo unto thee, Chorazin ! wo unto thee, 
Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works which were done in you had 
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago 
in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more 
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. 
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be 
brought down to hell : for if the mighty works which have been 
done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained 



320 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

until this day" (Matt. 11 : 20-23). Even his own brethren did 
not, at the beginning, believe in him (John 7 : 5). His expe- 
rience was the same in Judea; there the Jews sought to slay 
him (7 : 1). In Samaria the people of a village whither he had 
sent his disciples to make ready for him, would not receive him 
because he was going to Jerusalem, so that John and James, in 
their zeal, desired to command that fire from heaven should con- 
sume them (Luke 9 : 52, &c). 

4. The Pharisees, to whose vast influence principally these un- 
favorable sentiments are ascribable, were his most determined 
enemies. His miracles, which they could not deny, proceeded, 
as they alleged, from the devil : " This fellow doth not cast out 
devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." It was in 
vain that Christ exhibited the absurdity of this charge, and urged 
them to beware of the sin against the Holy Ghost, which " shall 
not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to 
come" (Matt. 12 : 24-32. See the Obs. below). — They sent 
officers to take him, and when these, deeply moved by his words, 
returned without bringing him, they angrily said : "Are ye also 
deceived ? Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed 
on him ? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed." 
And when Nicodemus, on the same occasion, ventured to defend 
his Master, they said to him : "Art thou also of Galilee ? Search 
and look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John 7 : 45, &c). 
They agreed to put all out of the synagogue who confessed that 
he was the Messiah (John 9 : 22), and nothing but fear of the 
people, who were still influenced at times to offer praise to Christ 
with enthusiasm, prevented them from adopting more violent 
measures. The Sadducees, oh the other hand, self-satisfied, and 
in their unbelief yielding to the pride of human reason, took no 
interest in Christ, and it is only at a late period that they seek 
him in order to obtain an opportunity for displaying their trivial 
wit (§148.4). 

Obs. — As the sin against the Holy Ghost can be forgiven neither 
in this life nor in the life to come, and as, nevertheless, God "will 
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth" (1 Tim. 2:4; Ezek. 33 : 11 ; 2 Pet. 3:9); it can be no other 
than a deliberate and obstinate hardening of the heart against the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 321 

grace of God in Christ which is manifested to man. It is termed a 
sin against the Holy Ghost, because the communication and the ap- 
propriation of grace occur through the Holy Ghost. The Pharisees 
were at least drawing near to the commission of this sin, for while 
they alleged that the miracles of Christ proceeded from the devil, 
they hardened themselves consciously and wickedly against the tes- 
timony of the Spirit of God who furnished them with incontestable 
evidence that these miracles were divine. 

§ 145. The Transfiguration of Christ 

1. The nearer the time was in which the Bedeemer's work 
should be completed by his death and resurrection, the more was 
his holy soul occupied with these events, which originated in the 
purest and most perfect love. He had previously given his dis- 
ciples occasional intimations only respecting this termination of 
his earthly labors. But during his last abode in Galilee, he told 
them plainly and distinctly " that he must go unto Jerusalem, 
and suffer many things — and be killed, and be raised again the 
third day" (Matt. 16 : 21). Then the Lord encountered a new 
temptation, stronger perhaps than the first to which he was ex- 
posed at the commencement of his ministry, because it came from 
a beloved disciple, and was apparently a manifestation of the 
most tender love. For Peter (the same disciple who had, with 
invincible faith, just made the confession : a Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God," and whom, in view of it, the Lord 
had pronounced to be blessed and had denominated the man who 
is as a rock, § 131. 3, Obs.) now took him aside, and said : 
" Be it far from thee, Lord : this shall not be unto thee." But 
the Saviour recognized in this manifestation of carnal love the 
influence of Satan, and said to Peter : " Get thee behind me, 
Satan ; thou art an offence unto me : for thou savorest not the 
things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Matt. 16 : 23). 

2. Matt. 17 : 1, &c. (Mark 9 : 2, &c. ; Luke 9 : 28, &c). — 
Six days afterwards, Jesus took Peter, James and John, and 
brought them up into a high mountain apart (mount Tabor, ac- 
cording to tradition). Here the disciples fell asleep. When they 
awoke, Jesus was transfigured before them ; his face shone as the 
sun, his raiment was white as the light, and Moses and Elias 



322 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

[Elijah] who were with him, spoke concerning his approaching 
death. Peter, transported with the blessedness of this heavenly 
view, exclaimed : " Lord, it is good for us to be here : if thou 
wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one 
for Moses, and one for Elias." While he yet spoke, a bright 
cloud overshadowed them, and a voice out of the cloud said : 
" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased : hear ye 
him." The disciples fell on their face and worshipped, and when 
Jesus raised them up, the visitants had disappeared. He charged 
the disciples to tell the vision to no man until he was risen again 
from the dead. He added certain instructions respecting the ful- 
filment of prophecy (Mai. 4 : 5, § 109. 3), and said that Elias 
truly should first come, and restore all things (for the Lord's second 
appearance unto judgment), but that, already at his first appear- 
ance in lowliness, an Elias had appeared in John the Baptist. 

Obs. — The baptism of the Redeemer introduced the first division 
of the labors belonging to his office ; the second was introduced by 
his transfiguration. On both occasions he received the same testi- 
mony of his Sonship and of his acceptableness on high. At his 
baptism, he announced his resolution to " fulfil all righteousness ;" 
at his transfiguration he spoke with Moses and Elias concerning his 
sufferings and death (Luke 9 : 31). During the period intervening 
between his baptism and the present event, it was specially his ac- 
tive obedience which had been approved, but it was henceforth 
his passive obedience which should be specially manifested. As the 
transfiguration glances retrospectively at the commencement of his 
work, so too, it glances prospectively at its completion, namely, 
the resurrection. The way is now in the course of being prepared 
for the glorification of his earthly human nature, which was per- 
fected in his resurrection. The power with which, after his suffer- 
ings, he subdued death and corruption, dwelt in him from the be- 
ginning, but it is now only that it shines forth through the dark veil 
of the flesh as a type and pledge of a future complete and abiding 
glorification. Moses and Elias, the fathers of the old covenant, the 
representatives of the law and of prophecy, here receive the 
joyful tidings concerning the fulfilment of all the institutions of sal- 
vation belonging to the Old Testament ; the three disciples of Jesus, 
the fathers of the Christian Church, the representatives of the dif- 
ferent Christian tendencies (g 131. 3, Obs.), here recognize the unity 
of the old and new covenants, and the connection between the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 323 

earthly and the heavenly kingdom of God. As the transfiguration 
or glorification of Christ was still incomplete, and could not be un- 
derstood until it was completed, he charged the disciples to tell no 
man of it, until his resurrection had occurred. 

§ 146. The Anointing in Bethany. 

John 12 : 1, &c. (Matt. 26 : 6, &c. ; Mark 14 : 3, &c). — 
Christ entered Jerusalem the third and last time during his public 
ministry, for the purpose of keeping the passover. He reached 
Bethany, which was scarcely two miles distant from Jerusalem, 
six days before the festival. While he sat at meat in the house 
of Simon the leper, Martha, who was connected with the family, 
served her revered Master at the table, and Lazarus, whom he 
had raised from the dead, appeared as one of the guests. Then 
Mary, who had undoubtedly heard those discourses of the Lord 
in which he made frequent mention of his approaching death, 
impelled by a presentiment which her love had quickened, took a 
vessel filled with costly ointment of spikenard, poured it on the 
Redeemer's head, anointed his feet, and wiped them with her 
hair. Judas Iscariot expressed his dissatisfaction that so large 
a sum of money had been needlessly wasted, as he alleged, and 
not given to the poor; the other disciples, who did not suspect 
that thievish habits and a thirst for money had suggested these 
thoughts to him who had charge of the common purse, concurred 
with Judas, without being governed by his motives. But the 
Lord defended the act of Mary, which was an expression of the 
most tender and thoughtful love. " Let her alone/' he said : 
u against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the 
poor always ye have with you ; but me ye have not always. — 
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached 
in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath 
done, be told for a memorial of her." Then Judas went to the 
chief priests, and said : " What will ye give me, and I will de- 
liver him unto you?" They offered him thirty pieces of silver 
(the price of a slave, Exod. 21 : 32), but did not consider that 
thereby they fulfilled, against their will, that which was written 
concerning Christ (Zech. 11 : 12-14). From that time Judas 
Bought opportunity to betray him. 



824 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. — When the delicate and self-sacrificing love of Mary is con- 
trasted with the impure thirst of Judas for gold, the whole occur- 
rence appears in a clear light, and furnishes important instructions. 
To the former the most costly object which she possesses, does not 
seem too precious to be employed in rendering honor to her Lord ; 
to the latter no artifice seems too base by which his love of money 
may be gratified. Mary yields, in her simplicity, to the impulse of 
her loving heart ; her purpose is accomplished, and she performs an 
act, the deep significance of which she does not herself understand, 
or of which she has perhaps merely an indistinct conception. Judas 
yields to the Satanic impulse of his heart, and, without clearly un- 
derstanding or suspecting the nature of the results, he too accom- 
plishes his purpose. Mary's act is beheld with admiration in every 
age ; the act of Judas strikes every sensitive heart with horror and 
dismay. 

§ 147. The Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem. 

1. Matt. 21 : 1 > &c. (Mark ch. 11; Luke ch. 19; John ch. 
12.) — On the next day (Sunday), Jesus prepares to enter the 
city of Jerusalem, By applying the prophecy in Zechariah 9 : 9 
(§ 109. 2) to himself, he announces openly and distinctly to the 
world that he is the Messiah ; he rides into the city u sitting 
upon a colt the foal of an ass." When the tidings that he was 
approaching reached the people who were assembled in large 
numbers for the purpose of keeping the feast, they hastened to 
meet him with branches of palm-trees in their hands; they spread 
their garments in the way, and joyfully exclaimed : " Hosanna!^ 
(that is : Lord, help! or, Save, Lord! see Ps. 118 : 25, 26.) 
" Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord : Hosanna 
in the highest." But the Pharisees said among themselves : 
" Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing ? behold, the world is gone 
after him." Some of them desired him to restrain the people, 
but he answered: "I tell you, that if these should hold their 
peace, the stones would immediately cry out." When he was 
come near he looked with grief at the city, and amid the loud 
rejoicing of the people, he said, as he wept over the city : " If 
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things 
which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine 
eyes," For he saw in spirit all the misery and the ruin which, 
the impenitence of the city brought upon itself. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 325 

Obs. 1. — Christ had hitherto carefully suppressed every attempt 
of the people to proclaim him as the Messianic king. He could have 
successfully adopted the same course on the present occasion, but his 
" hour" had now arrived, and he even encourages the enthusiasm of 
the people, to which a new impulse had been communicated by the 
restoration of Lazarus to life. Still his measures are even now 
adapted to show by the humility and lowliness of his appearance, 
the contrast between his kingdom and the kingdoms of the world. — 
It was indispensable that his Messianic royal dignity should be pub- 
licly acknowledged at the proper time ; if the people had been silent, 
the very stones would have proclaimed him with loud hosannas ; it 
was, nevertheless, equally indispensable that this public recognition 
should immediately precede his last and most severe sufferings. An 
external connection between the " Hosanna" of the people and their 
demand: "Crucify him, Crucify him," was established through the 
hatred of the Pharisees — an internal connection was established 
through the counsel of God; for the throne on which Christ should 
appear when taking possession of dominion over the whole world, 
was the cross. 

Obs. 2. — " The day on which Christ first showed himself on this 
occasion, in Jerusalem — the tenth of the first month, Nisan, was 
doubtless chosen by him designedly ; it was the day appointed (ac- 
cording to Exodus 12 : 3) for selecting the paschal lamb of the Old 
Testament. No one, however, besides himself, then knew that He 
was chosen to be himself the true and eternally valid paschal 
lamb." 

2. Mark 11 : 12, &c. (Matt. 21; Luke 19.) — On the next 
day (Monday), when the Lord again entered the city (for during 
this period he usually retired in the evening to the peaceful 
domestic circle which he found in Bethany), he laid the sym- 
bolically significant curse on the fig-tree, which was full of leaves 
but furnished no fruit (§ 137. 2). He then proceeded to the 
temple for the purpose of repeating the act which he had per- 
formed at the commencement of his public ministry (John 2 : 13, 
&c); in virtue of his Messianic and prophetic authority, he 
cleansed the temple which was again defiled by the traffic of 
buyers, sellers and money-changers who had resumed their places 
in the court of the Gentiles. Even the children greeted the Son 
of David with their hosannas, and when the Pharisees expressed 

28 



326 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

their displeasure, he replied : " Have ye never read (Ps. 8 : 2), 
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected 
praise ?" (Matt. 21 : 15, 16.) 

§ 148. The Counsel taken by the Enemies of Jesus against Him. 

1. Matt. ch. 21. — Immediately after the restoration of Lazarus 
to life, the Sanhedrin had resolved to put Jesus to death. " If 
we let him thus alone/' they said, "all men will believe on him : 
and the Romans shall come, and take away both our place and na- 
tion." Caiaphas, the high-priest of that year, replied : " Ye 
know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that 
one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation 
perish not." In this remarkable saying, the counsel of Satan 
and the counsel of God wonderfully come together, in order to 
accomplish that which the eternal grace of God " determined be- 
fore to be done" (Acts 4 : 28) \ it is, likewise, not only the lan- 
guage of the cunning and malice of the high-priest, but also the 
last prophetic declaration that proceeded from the gift of pro- 
phecy attached to the office of the high-priest (John 11 : 46-53). 

2. Matt. 21 : 23, &c. — The occurrences of the preceding 
days brought this resolution of the Sanhedrin to maturity. As 
Jesus was teaching in the temple on the next day (Tuesday), the 
chief priests and elders demanded of him the evidences of his 
authority to exercise the office of a prophet. As these were al- 
ready furnished in part by the mission of John the Baptist, the 
Lord answered on this occasion by proposing the question : " The 
baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" 
Embarrassed by their fear, on the one hand, of the people who 
held John as a prophet, and, on the other, of the reply which 
Christ could make, they were compelled to say : " We cannot 
tell." Then the Redeemer said to them: "Neither tell I you 
by what authority I do these things." For the purpose of con- 
vincing his enemies that the position which they assumed, ex- 
cluded them from the kingdom of God, he subjoined the three 
parables of the two sons, sent by their father into the vineyard, 
of the vineyard Jet out to husbandmen, who slew the householder's 
servants, and last of all his son also, and of the marriage of the 
king's son (§ 137. 3). 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 327 

3. Matt. 22 : 15, &c. — The Pharisees now adopted a new 
plan, in consequence of which they combined with the officers 
attached to the court of Herod (who were favorable alike to the 
sect of the Sadducees and the Roman power), in proposing a 
captious question to Christ : " Is it lawful to give tribute to 
Caesar, or not?" An affirmative answer would, as they were 
persuaded, arouse the wrath of the people, while a negative an- 
swer would lead to a judicial inquiry on the part of the Roman 
government. But the Lord penetrated their malicious designs, 
and plainly taught them that the image of the Roman emperor 
on the coin in his hand testified, that since they had not given 
unto God the things that are God's, they deserved the chastise- 
ment of giving by compulsion to the emperor or Caesar the things 
that were Caesar's. The power of truth in the answer of Christ, 
and the consciousness of their own guilt which it produced, rent 
asunder the snare in which they had hoped to entangle him, and 
they departed with shame. 

4. Matt. 22 : 23, &c. — On the same day the Sadducees ap- 
proached the Lord for the purpose of displaying their profane 
wit by relating the tale of the seven husbands of one woman ; 
they had, no doubt, frequently embarrassed others with success 
by the same means, and compelled them to confess their inability 
to determine of which of the seven brethren the woman should 
be the wife in the resurrection. The Redeemer repelled the 
shaft which their unholy levity directed against him, by teaching 
them that a in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given 
in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven -" and he 
explained to them that the very name, "the God of Abraham, 
and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," by its deep im- 
port, bore witness against their unbelief. He instructed one of 
the Pharisees who was governed by better motives than the ma- 
jority of the sect, concerning the great commandment in the 
law, and proposed to the others the question : " What think ye 
of Christ ? whose son is he V } They readily answer : " The son 
of David," but cannot solve the problem that David's son is also 
David's Lord; and from that day no man ventured to ask him 
any more questions. 



328 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 149. CJirist's Predictions respecting the Destruction of Jeru 
salem and the End of the World. 

1. Matt. ch. 23, 24. — The Lord now proceeds to bear witness 
in the most emphatic and uncompromising manner, in the pre* 
sence of the people and his disciples, against all Pharisaic hy- 
pocrisy, and against all righteousness derived from outward works. 
He addresses the Pharisees, and exclaiming with solemnity eight 
times : " Wo unto you V he exposes the hidden Satanic depths 
of their hearts, alienated as they are from God, and announces 
that their course is inevitably bringing the divine judgment of 
total ruin upon the holy city and the temple. The Redeemer, 
filled with holy grief, pronounced the appalling words : " Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen ga there th her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not ! Behold, your house is left unto 
you desolate" When the disciples immediately afterwards di- 
rected his attention again to the buildings of the temple, he said: 
" Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone 
upon another, that shall not be thrown down/' On reaching the 
mount of Olives which afforded a view of the temple and the 
holy city in all their splendor (§ 75. 2), the disciples said to him : 
"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the 
sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ?" Then the 
Lord distinctly portrayed, in prophetic language, the development 
of the kingdom of God in the last days (Matt. ch. 24). 

Obs. — The prophet's survey of the future, in general, is governed 
by influences which, in some degree, resemble the rules of perspec- 
tive ; prominent objects, which may be in reality remote from each 
other, seem, when thus surveyed, to occupy positions which are the 
same, or nearly the same. Now, the predictions of the Redeemer, 
uttered during the period in which he divested himself on earth of 
his divine majesty, were governed by the same laws which the pro- 
phetic views of the future, taken by ordinary prophets, observed. 
(Mark 13 : 32 and \ 138. 1, Obs. 3.) He accordingly described the 
future as one entire scene, without minutely defining the succession 
of time in such a manner as it will actually appear, when the facta 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 329 

themselves shall occur in the fulfilment of the prophecy. The two 
prominent objects which occupy the foreground of the picture are — 
the final judgment overtaking the people of the covenant and holy 
city — and the last Judgment, when all the world shall be judged; 
and, as the former is a type of the latter, the description of the one 
is the basis on which the description of the other is established. — 
The present prophecy commences with the announcement of the 
signs preceding the Judgment, and then describes the actual occur- 
rence of the Judgment itself, and, particularly, the catastrophes ac- 
companying it. ($ 195, &c.) The destruction of Jerusalem and of 
the temple, the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, 
and the unparalleled misery and distress of that day, appear as a 
type and prelude of the last catastrophe of the world accompanying 
the Judgment. The announcement that the precise time of this 
Judgment is not a subject of revelation, is followed, in conclusion, 
by a reference, assuming the character of a warning, to the judgment 
of the Deluge (§ 17. 1), and by an exhortation to be watchful and 
always ready, " for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man 
Cometh/' 

2. Matt. 25 : 1, &c. — This prophetic discourse is succeeded by 
the parables of the ten virgins, and of the talents, which constitute 
a continuation of the preceding discourse in connection with a 
description of the last Judgment, under the image of a shepherd 
dividing his sheep from the goats. In these latter portions, the 
last Judgment is represented as an act of separation, and spe- 
cially, as the last or final and unchangeable separation of those 
who, amid the struggles and trials of life, had sincerely kept the 
faith which worketh by love, from those who, through their luke- 
warmness, sloth or obstinate unbelief, had failed to receive the 
salvation offered to them, and therefore remained destitute of the 
fruits of faith and love. (§ 200. 2, Obs.) — After Jesus had 
finished all these sayings, he withdrew from Jerusalem, in order 
that he might pass the last two days without interruption, in the 
company of his disciples. In the mean time, his enemies again 
assembled in the palace of the high-priest, and consulted that 
they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said : 
" Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people/' 
(Matt. 26 : 1-5.) 
28* 



330 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. — Although the success of the plan adopted by the enemies 
of Jesus seemed to depend strictly on the postponement of active 
measures until the festival season had terminated, they were, never- 
theless, impelled by the unexpectedly rapid development of circum- 
stances and the violence of their hatred, which was even greater 
than their prudence, to carry it immediately into effect. Thus their 
acts were, contrary to their own purposes, rendered subservient to 
the designs of God ; for it was appointed that Jesus should die pre- 
cisely at the feast of the passover, in order to indicate that he was 
the true and eternally valid paschal sacrifice. (See \ 150. 3, Obs.) 

§ 150. The Passover and the last Discourses of Jesus. 

1. Matt. 26 : 17, &c. ; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13. — On 
the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (the fourteenth of 
Nisan, and in this year, Thursday), the Lord sent Peter and 
John to make the necessary preparations for eating the paschal 
supper. "When the hour had arrived, and the Lord was sitting 
down at the table with the twelve, the feet of the guests should 
have been previously washed, according to the Jewish custom, 
but none of the disciples were prompted by their feelings to per- 
form this servile work in humility. Then the Redeemer him- 
self rose and washed the feet of his disciples, in order to shame 
them and teach them a lesson of humility. When he came to 
Peter, the latter, deeply humbled, said : " Thou shalt never wash 
my feet." The Lord rebuked him, because he was still unable 
to understand this symbolical act, and said : " If I wash thee not, 
thou hast no part with me." Peter now replied : " Lord, not my 
feet only, but also my hands and my head." Jesus answered : 
" He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is 
clean every whit : and ye are clean, but not all." 

Obs. — Christ establishes a connection between the washing of th8 
feet and the baptism of John. The disciples received through the 
latter their first consecration to the kingdom of God, and had part 
with Christ ; the whole man had been symbolically cleansed by it. 
But as they had again become unclean through their daily inter- 
course with the world (not the whole body, however, but only the 
feet), it was necessary that this uncleanness also should be removed, 
in order that they might continue to have part with Christ, and be 
qualified to partake of that meal by which their communion with 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 331 

hirn was established. Herein consisted the symbolical meaning of 
the washing of the disciples' feet. — The baptism of John, and the 
washing of the feet previous to the paschal meal, correspond to 
Christian Baptism and the remission of sins previous to the reception 
of the Lord's Supper. The gifts which were symbolically exhibited 
in the former, are really bestowed in the latter. 

2. Matt. 26 : 21, &c.j Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13. — The 
paschal lamb was placed before them, and the passover com- 
menced. " With desire I have desired/' said the Redeemer, " to 
eat this passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, 
I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the king- 
dom of God." (Luke 22 : 15, 16.) When he gave the first cup 
to the disciples, according to the custom observed at the festival, 
he said : "I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this 
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you 
in my Father's kingdom." While they were eating the paschal 
meal, Jesus said : " Verily, I say unto you, That one of you shall 
betray me," and after indicating to the disciple who lay on his 
breast the individual to whom he referred, by giving a sop to 
Judas, he said to the latter: "That thou doest, do quickly." 
The hour had arrived in which Judas was to make a final deci- 
sion. After the sop, Satan entered into him; Judas went out 
immediately. "And it was night" in his soul also. (John 13 : 
21-30.) 

Obs. — The recital of this exposure of the traitor in the Gospel of 
Matthew, precedes the account which he gives of the institution of 
the Lord's Supper, while this order is reversed in Luke, whence it 
becomes doubtful whether Judas was still present at the institution 
or had previously departed. According to Luke 22 : 20, the institu- 
tion occurred after the conclusion of the paschal meal — the traitoi 
was exposed before the latter was concluded, according to Matt. 26 : 
23 ; John 13 : 26 ; and withdrew immediattly after he had received 
the sop (John 13 : 30) ; this combination of the passages seems to 
show conclusively that Judas was no longer present when the Lord's 
Supper was instituted. On the other hand, the passage in Luke 22 : 
21 seems to indicate as clearly that he was present and also received it. 
It would therefore be difficult, in attempting to answer this question, 
to obtain absolute certainty. — Far less importance is to be attached 
to an apparent discrepancy between John and Matthew; the former 



382 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

connects the exposure of the traitor with the Lord's act of giving 
him the sop, while according to the representation of the latter, both 
dip in the dish at the same time. Various easy modes of removing 
the difficulty occur ; both may have, for instance, dipped in the dish 
at the same time, and the Lord have immediately given the sop to 
Judas, before their hands were withdrawn. 

3. Matt. 26 : 26-29 (Mark 14; Luke 22; 1 Cor. 11).— 
Scarcely had the traitor departed, when the Redeemer's love 
expressed its strength in the solemn words : " Now is the Son 
of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. Little children, 

yet a little while I am with you A new commandment I 

give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, 
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13 : 
30-35). The ordinary paschal meal was now ended. Then Jesus 
again took bread ; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, 
and gave it to the disciples, and said : " Take, eat ; this is my 
body, which is given for you : this do, in remembrance of me." 
After the same manner also he took the cup, and said : " Drink 
ye all of it ; this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which 
is shed for you, for the remission of sins : this do ye, as oft as ye 
drink it, in remembrance of me." 

Obs. — The type contained in the paschal meal of the Old Testa- 
tament is fulfilled in the Lord's Supper. Christ is the true archetypal 
paschal lamb (1 Cor. 5:7; John 19 : 36), for he gave himself and 
suffered death for us, in order that we and all who believe in him 
might be saved from destruction and be delivered from the bondage 
of sin ; he gives to us his flesh and blood to eat and drink (John 
ch. 6), that had been offered in death, restored and glorified in his 
resurrection, and, after his ascension to heaven, invested with the 
fulness of divine power and glory. — The significance of the Lord's 
Supper as a permanent institution by which the most intimate and 
essential communion of life with the Redeemer is secured by be- 
lievers of the new covenant, will be considered in \ 190 ; our atten- 
tion at present is occupied with the meal alone at which it was insti- 
tuted. The institution of this Sacrament was indeed the chief pur- 
pose of that meal. Still, that meal was not an empty form in itself, 
possessing a significant character for future times alone, but was, on 
the contrary, unquestionably the medium through which a real or 



KEDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 333 

actual communion of life between the Lord and the disciples was 
established. For the fact ought not to be overlooked, that the suf- 
ferings of Christ which his death completed, and the glorification of 
his bodily nature which his resurrection completed, had actually 
commenced already and were present. The glorified or glorious 
body (Phil. 3 : 21) was already in him, and only veiled "in the 
likeness of sinful flesh." (Rom. 8 : 3.) Even as that dark veil could 
not conceal his glory on the mount of transfiguration ($ 145. 2, Obs.), 
so too it was in his power to form a connection on the present occa- 
sion in truth and reality between himself and the bread and wine. 

4. With this solemn act were connected the last discourses ad- 
dressed by Jesus to his disciples and recorded by him who lay on 
the Master's breast — a legacy of the Redeemer designed for his 
disciples in all ages, demonstrating an overflowing fulness of love 
such as the heart of the Son of man alone could entertain, and 
expressed in terms more soothing, touching and impressive, than 
any that were ever employed by a mortal. He speaks of his return 
to the Father and the mansions which he will prepare for his 
people (ch. 14) — of the intimate communion of life existing be- 
tween himself and them (" I am the vine, ye are the branches," 
&c, ch. 15) — of the mission of the Comforter, who will guide 
into all truth (ch. 16) — and he concludes by offering a prayer as 
our high-priest, in which the promise is given that his people 
shall share the glory which he had with the Father before the 
beginning of the world (ch. 17). 

§ 151. The Agony in Gethsemane. — The Seizure of Christ by 
the Officers of the Jews. 

1. Matt. 26 : 30-35 (Mark 14; Luke 22). — At the conclu- 
sion of the paschal supper Christ went with his disciples to Geth- 
semane (that is, oil-press), a retired spot on the Mount of Olives 
owned by persons attached to him, and known to Judas as the 
Lord's favorite place of resort. Deeply impressed with the suffer- 
ings which now awaited him, he said to his disciples : " All ye 
shall be offended because of me this night/ 5 The impetuosity of 
Peter, who was conscious of the sincerity of his love and his faith, 
but who did not yet feel his own helplessness, led him to exclaim : 
" Though all men shall be offended because of thee ; yet will I 



334 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

never be offended." Even after the Lord had distinctly replied : 
"This night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me 
thrice," his self-confidence was not impaired, but led him to 
answer : " Though I should die with thee, yet will not I deny 
thee." Likewise also said all the disciples. 

2. Matt. 26 : 36-46. — Jesus withdrew with Peter, John and 
James, in the garden of Gethsemane, and began to be very sor- 
rowful and very heavy, saying to them : My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with me." 
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, 
saying : " my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." And he 
cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith 
unto Peter : " What, could ye not watch with me one hour ? 
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit in- 
deed is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away again the 
second time, and prayed, saying: u O my Father, if this cup 
may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." 
And he came and found them asleep again. He went away again, 
and prayed the third time, saying the same words. And being 
in agony, he prayed more earnestly ; and his sweat was as it were 
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And there ap- 
peared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Then 
cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them : " Sleep on now, 

and take your rest Behold, the hour is at hand, and the 

Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Eise, let us 
be going : behold, he is at hand that doth betray me." 

Obs. — It was needful that Christ should be like unto us in all 
things, and be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin 
(Heb. 4 : 15) ; it was needful that both the whole fulness of earthly 
joys and glory and the whole weight of human sorrows and strug- 
gles should meet him in the form of temptations. Now, even as we 
cannot conceive of the Temptation of the Redeemer in general, and 
his victory cannot acquire a significant character, unless we assume 
that his pure humanity was required to engage in the contest when 
abandoned to itself, so here too, the basis of the struggle of his soul 
was that state in which he was abandoned of God (Matt. 27 : 46) ; 
the hour had arrived in which the prince of darkness was again per- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 835 

ruitted to test his own power in the case of the Holy One of God. On 
the first occasion, the Devil showed the Redeemer all the kingdoms 
of the world, and the glory of them; here, he shows him the whole 
extent of the frightful sufferings which he must endure in order to 
finish his work. In both cases his implicit obedience to the divine 
will was the banner the presence of which secured the victory; and 
in both, the messengers of heaven came and strengthened him after 
the painful contest. — The whole occurrence presents two extraordi- 
nary features : the heaviness of heart and dread with which the Re- 
deemer regarded his approaching sufferings, and the uncertainty and 
indistinctness of his views respecting the absolute necessity of the 
last of the sufferings which awaited him ; they both occasion surprise 
when they are contrasted with the composure and fortitude which he 
had hitherto manifested when he referred to his future sufferings, 
and with those clear views of the absolute necessity of his death on 
the cross, which he had expressed even a few hours only previous to 
his agony in the garden. Now, with respect to the latter circum- 
stance — the indistinctness of view respecting the necessity of his 
death — the fact ought not to be overlooked that he is even now as 
firmly resolved as at any previous period to endure all things, even 
the most intense agony, belonging to the work which he had assumed : 
he merely says: "Father, if it be possible that my past sufferings 
should be regarded as fully adequate to render satisfaction to eternal 
justice, and to atone for the sins of the whole world, spare me the 
pain of drinking the last cup of suffering ;" a negative answer is re- 
turned, and he is at once ready to endure all. He exhibits, not an 
imperfection in his will, but simply the limitation of his knowledge ; 
the question was not suggested by his doubts but by his uncertainty . 
respecting the degree in which he should experience sorrow, and 
that uncertainty originated in the deprivation, for the time, of the 
fulness of divine knowledge in him. With respect to the former cir- 
cumstance — his heaviness of heart and dread — the fact ought to be 
considered that a sense of pain and also tears are not sinful, but 
strictly belong to human nature, and that a stoical indifference to 
pain is mere affectation and hypocrisy, not honorable but disgraceful 
to human nature ; these sufferings of the Redeemer, besides, were 
too deep and too intense to admit of a comparison with any which a 
mortal has ever endured. The whole awful and immeasurable bur- 
den of the sins of the entire human race, for which he made atone- 
ment, lay with an almost crushing pressure on his holy heart at a 
moment when it received no divine strength ; all the terrors of the 



336 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

frightful death which he was to meet overwhelmed his holy, pure 
and sensitive soul, and naturally created in him an incomparably 
greater dread and deeper agony than our unclean and rude souls 
could possibly experience ; for death is now a natural event in our 
case, while in his own case it was a repulsive and unnatural change. 
Those who contrast with his distress the unclouded joy with which 
Christian martyrs have met a death of torture, forget that such 
serenity and joy are precisely the fruits of this painful struggle of 
Christ. Some have even presumed to refer here to isolated cases in 
which monsters of iniquity have endured with frigid indifference the 
most severe tortures when their crimes were punished with death ; 
to these we reply that there is verily little reverence due to the power 
of darkness which bestows upon its deluded subjects a transient and 
deceitful triumph that ends in weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

3. Matt. 26 : 47-56 (Mark 14; Luke 22; John 18).— While 
lie yet spake, Judas came, and with him a great multitude with 
swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 
Jesus went forth to them with calmness and dignity, and said : 
"Whom seek ye? — I am he." The rude officers and servants, 
stricken with fear in the presence of his holy person, went back- 
ward, and fell to the ground; Judas, however, was, even in that 
moment, sufficiently sustained by a Satanic courage to approach 
the Master and give the appointed sign — a salutation and kiss. 
Then the band ventured to draw nigh again and take Jesus. The 
ardent and impetuous Peter, whose mind was not yet humbled, 
again exhibited his self-reliance, and drawing a sword, cut off the 
right ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. But the Lord, 
touching the wounded man's ear, healed him, and turning to 
Peter said : " Put up again thy sword into his place : for all they 
that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou 
that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give 
me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the 
scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" When the band 
indicated an intention to seize the disciples also, they all fled, 
and a young man, who had approached (probably Mark himself, 
who relates the incident, 14 : 51, 52), escaped only by leaving 
his garment in the hands of those who attempted to take him 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 337 



§ 152. Clirist in the Presence of the High- Priest. — Peter and 

Judas. 

1. Matt. 26 : 57, &c. j Mark 14 : 53, &c. ; Luke 22 : 54, &c. ; 
John 18 : 12, &c. — When the band had taken and bound Jesus, 
they first conducted him to Annas (the father-in-law of Caiaphas, 
the high-priest), a man of great influence anion g the Jews. He 
had himself been the high-priest formerly, and had doubtless 
taken an active part in causing the apprehension of Christ. 
When the Lord was afterwards brought into the presence of Caia- 
phas, the members of the Sanhedrin, including, undoubtedly, 
the most hostile of their number, were nearly all assembled al- 
ready, and were engaged in their deliberations. The high-priest 
immediately questioned Jesus concerning his disciples and his 
doctrine. " I ever taught," Jesus answered, u in the synagogue, 
and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort .... ask them 
which heard me, what I have said unto them." Certain false 
witnesses who had previously received their instructions, were 
now produced, but the testimony which they severally gave, was 
nevertheless found to be contradictory and worthless. The only 
support which the sentence of condemnation received that had 
already been prepared, was furnished by two of the witnesses 
who maliciously perverted a former declaration of the Lord : 
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 
2 : 19-21). Jesus held his peace, on hearing such a charge, 
which did not deserve a serious refutation. But when the high- 
priest adjured him that he should tell whether he was the Christ, 
the Son of God, the Lord, fully conscious of his divine mission, 
replied to those who presumed to judge him : " Thou hast said : 
I am. Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the 
Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in 
the clouds of heaven." Then the high-priest rent his clothes, 
saying : " What further need have we of witness ? Behold, 
now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye V They an- 
swered : "He is guilty of death." This decision seemed to the 
rude servants who were present, to give authority to treat him 
with the foulest indignity. They spat in his face, smote him 
29 



338 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 

with their hands, after blind-folding him, and said: " Prophesy 
unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee V 9 Thus closed 
the tumultuous examination before the high-priest. 

2. Matt. 26 : 69, &c. ; Mark 44 : 66, &c. j Luke 22 : 55, &c. ; 
John 18 : 15, &c. — When the Lord was led away, Peter fol- 
lowed afar off, and, through John's influence, was admitted into 
the palace of the high-priest. While he remained with the 
servants in the porch, during the examination of Christ, the deep 
anxiety and distress of his heart may have been so plainly ex- 
pressed in his countenance, as to attract the attention of those 
who stood near him. The damsel who kept the door, earnestly 
looking upon him, said : "Art not thou also one of this man's 
disciples?" Peter, forgetful alike of the warnings which he had 
received, and of his own resolutions, answered : u I know not 
what thou sayest." And the cock crew the first time, but the 
warning was unheard by Peter. Another maid repeated the re- 
mark of the former, and Peter denied his Lord and Master the 
second time, saying: "I do not know the man." Those who 
stood by now declared more and more positively : " Surely thou 
art one of them : for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth 
thereto," and a kinsman of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut 
off, asked him : " Did not I see thee in the garden with him V 9 
Then Peter began to curse and to swear, saying : " I know not 
the man." And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew 
the second time, and at the same moment, the Redeemer turned 
and looked rebukingly yet sorrowfully upon him. Peter now re- 
membered the warning words of the Lord ; he went out and wept 
bitterly. 

3. Matt. 27 : 1, &c.j Mark 15 : 1, &c.; Luke 22 : 66, &c — 
At a very early hour on the morning of the next day, a formal 
meeting of the Sanhedrin was held, attended by all the members, 
and the examination of Christ was resumed. The sentence of 
death was soon passed, and, as the Great Council no longer re- 
tained the power to inflict capital punishments, he was delivered 
into the hands of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and de- 
nounced as a seditious person who was worthy of death. Then 
Judas, the traitor, who had scarcely expected that the Lord 
would be really condemned to death, repented of his wicked deed. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 339 

In vain, however, did he bring back the money obtained as the 
price of his treachery \ in vain did he testify to the Council : " I 
have betrayed the innocent blood V He was dismissed with the 
scornful reply : " What is that to us ? see thou to that." He 
cast down the pieces of silver in the temple in despair, and went 
and hanged himself. The chief priests observed : "It is not 
lawful for to put this money into the treasury, because it is the 
price of blood," and resolved to purchase with it a potter's field, 
to bury strangers in. In this particular also the prophecy of 
Zechariah (11 : 12, 13), was accordingly fulfilled. 

Obs. — The question maybe asked: Since the Eedeemer knew what 
was in man (John 2 : 25), and necessarily foreknew the manner in 
which the career of Judas would close, why did he receive him as 
one of the disciples, and thus himself furnish Judas with an oppor- 
tunity to develope the wickedness of his heart and reveal it in this 
frightful form ? Now the fact ought not to be overlooked here, that 
the intimate relation in which he stood to the Redeemer, and which 
was employed by him in accomplishing his own ruin, was, at the 
same time, adapted to be the most efficacious, and was perhaps the 
only means of saving him, if he had himself consented, from the 
deadly corruption that already dwelt in him ; it should, further, be 
considered, that, as in the case of all others, so in the case of Judas 
also, a final decision at an earlier or later period, was absolutely 
necessary. The last occasion on which he hardened his heart, might 
have perhaps been later, but would have nevertheless certainly 
been found, even if Christ had not received him as one of the twelve 
disciples. — The contrast between the fall of Peter and the fall of 
Judas, as well as between the repentance of the former, and the 
despair of the latter, is entitled to special consideration. 

§ 153. Christ in the Presence of Pilate. 

1. John 18 : 28, &c. ; Matt. 27 : 2, &c. ; Mark 15 : 1, &c. ; 
Luke 23 : 1, &c. — Jesus had been accused of blasphemy before 
the Sanhedrin. The members, aware that such a charge would 
receive little attention on the part of the pagan governor, 
attempted to exhibit to him the Saviour's Messianic character 
and conduct as political crimes. " We find this fellow," they 
said, "perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to 
Cesar, saying, that he himself is Christ, a king." Pilate accord- 



340 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ingly asked the Redeemer: "Art thou the king of the Jews?" 
Jesus answered : " Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others 
tell it thee of me?" Pilate replied contemptuously: "Am I a 
Jew ? Thine own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered 
thee unto me. What hast thou done V- Jesus answered : " My 
kingdom is not of this world." To Pilate's next question : "Art 
thou a king then ?" Jesus replied : " Thou sayest that I am a 
king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the 
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that 
is of the truth, heareth my voice." Pilate turned away, asking 
with indifference : u What is truth ?" and, without waiting for 

the answer ("lam the truth," John 14 : 6), he went out 

to the Jews, and said to them : " I find in him no fault at all." 
They became still more excited, and advanced new and more 
serious charges against Christ, incidentally calling him a Galilean. 
Pilate instantly availed himself of the opportunity which this 
circumstance seemed to furnish for extricating himself from his 
embarrassment, and sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of 
Galilee, who was at that time at Jerusalem for the purpose of 
keeping the feast. But Christ did no miracle in Herod's presence, 
and gave no answers to his questions ; he was then arrayed by 
Herod's servants in a white robe, for the purpose of mocking his 
claim to be considered a candidate for the Jewish crown, and sent 
back to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod were 
made friends together ; for before they were at enmity between 
themselves. 

2. Pilate again attempted to appease the Jews, but his efforts 
were made in vain ; availing himself of a custom connected with 
the festival, he offered to release either Christ or Barabbas, a man 
who was guilty of sedition and murder : the Jews chose Barabbas, 
and demanded that Christ should be crucified. The embarrass- 
ment of the governor was, at this moment, still more increased 
by a message which his wife (named Claudia Procula, according 
to tradition) sent him, saying : " Have thou nothing to do with 
that just man : for I have suffered many things this day in a 
dream, because of him." But when he saw that he could not 
calm the tumultuous proceedings of the multitude, he took water, 
and washed his hands in their presence, saying : " I am innocent 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 341 

of the blood of this just person : see ye to it." Then answered 
all the people, and said : " His blood be on us, and on our chil- 
dren V (§ 119.) Pilate made a last effort : he hoped that the 
people would have compassion on the innocent sufferer, and there- 
fore caused him to be scourged. The soldiers put on him a 
scarlet robe, placed a crown of thorns upon his head as well as a 
reed in his right hand, mocked him, and spit upon him. Pilate 
presented him in this condition to the people, again declaring his 
innocence, and saying : u Behold the man !" The people cried . 
more loudly: "Crucify him, crucify him;" and when the high- 
priests, in threatening words, referred to the emperor Tiberius, 
fear stifled all sense of justice in the wretched and worldly- 
minded Pilate, whom truth had approached so nearly. He sat 
down in the judgment-seat, and pronounced the sentence of 
crucifixion. 

r Obs. — It is not only a matter of interest, but also of great im- 
portance in this connection, to consider the later history of Pilate, as 
far as it is known to us. After having held the office of Procurator 
ten years, and rendered himself odious by the extortion and the law- 
less and cruel acts of which he was guilty (Luke 13 : 1), he was 
accused before Yitellius, the governor of Syria. The latter deprived 
him of his office, a. d. 36, and sent him to Eome, in order to be tried 
before the emperor. He reached the city after the death of Tiberius, 
but was afterwards sent into banishment, and, like Judas, committed 
suicide. 

§ 154. The Crucifixion of CJirist. 

1. Matt. 27 : 31, &c. ; Mark 15 : 20, &c. ; Luke 23 : 26, &c. j 
John 19 : 16, &c. — When the Redeemer was led away, he was 
compelled to bear the cross himself; but, not far from the city, the 
soldiers seized a man who was passing by, named Simon of Cyrene, 
and compelled him to bear the heavy burden. Many women 
accompanied the people who followed the Lord, bewailing and 
lamenting him j to them he addressed the impressive words : 
" Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for your- 
selves, and for your children .... for if they do these things 1 
in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Two male* 
29* 



842 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

factors were crucified at the same time on Golgotha (that is, the 
place of a skull), a name derived from the form of the spot, 
which resembles a human skull (§ 156. Obs. 2). A misdirected 
compassion induced some to offer a stupefying drink to the Re- 
deemer, which he rejected, for it became Him, the conqueror of 
death, to meet it with a clear and firm mind, and endure its ter- 
rors with unimpaired consciousness. When the soldiers had per- 
formed their work, the first words of the crucified Jesus were a 
prayer for his executioners : " Father, forgive them : for they 
know not what they do." Pilate, to the great displeasure of the 
Jews, placed an inscription on the cross in the following words : 
" Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews/'' in Hebrew, Greek 
and Latin (I. N.E.I.) ; without being himself aware of it, he 
first proclaimed to all the world, in its three principal languages, 
the great salvation which was designed for all. The soldiers 
divided the Saviour's garments among themselves, and cast lots 
for his coat, that the scripture might also herein be fulfilled. 
(Ps. 22 : 18.) 

2. Matt. 25 : 38, &c. ; Mark 15 : 27, &c. ; Luke 23 : 39, &c; 
John 19 : 25, &c. — Thus the Son of God and the King of the 
world, suspended between heaven and earth, was slain on the 
cross as on his altar; full of sorrows, and acquainted with grief 
(Isai. 53), he was the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin 
of the world. The measure of his sufferings was not yet full : 
they that passed by, reviled him, and the chief priests and scribes 
mocked him. Even one of the two malefactors who were cruci- 
fied with him, railed on him, but was rebuked by the other, who 
then, addressing Jesus, said : " Lord, remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom." The Lord replied, as if the cross 
were the throne of judgment (§ 200. 2, Obs.); " Verily, I say 
unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." He next 
directed a glance of deep and tender love toward his mother, 
whose soul was now pierced through with the sword of which 
Simeon had spoken (§ 127. 2), and, referring to John, said to 
her : " Woman, behold thy son !" He then addressed John also, 
and said : " Behold thy mother I" From that hour that disciple 
took her to his own home. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 343 



§ 155. The Death of Christ. 

1. Matt. 27 : 45, &c. ; Mark 15 : 33, &c. ; Luke 23 : 44, &c. ; 
John 19 : 28, &c. — From the sixth hour to the ninth (that is, 
from the hour of noon to three o'clock, P. M.), there was darkness 
over all the land. The darkened sun seemed to veil its face 
when the earth presented that heart-rending spectacle ; it would 
not permit its life-giving light to shine, while the Prince of life 
was wrestling with death. (As the moon was then at the full, 
this darkness could not have proceeded from an ordinary eclipse 
of the sun.) During this period, the Redeemer remained silent 
on the cross. But when the moment came, in which his holy 
soul was to be released from the tortured body, one conflict yet 
awaited him, the last and most severe of all that he had endured. 
The terrors of death overwhelmed him ; he tasted all the fearful 
bitterness of death, the wages of the sin of the whole world, 
without obtaining aid and strength from above. It was then that 
he mournfully exclaimed, in the words with which the twenty- 
second Psalm commences : " Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ?" that 
is, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Those 
that stood near the cross were filled with terror, and said : " Be- 
hold, he calleth Elias" (Mai. 4 : 5. § 109. 3). On hearing him 
say, in his exhausted state : " I thirst," they filled a sponge with 
vinegar, and put it to his mouth. He received the vinegar, which 
refreshed him, and added: "It is finished! — Father, into thy 
hands I commend my spirit !" He bowed his head and expired. 

2. Matt. 27 : 52, &c. ; Mark 15 : 39, &c. ; Luke 23 : 47, &c. 
— Thus all was finished which the eternal love of the Father had 
determined before to be done, for delivering the sinful world 
from ruin; all was finished that had been prepared during four 
thousand years, and prefigured in the shadows of the temple ser- 
vice during many centuries. The vail of the temple was rent in 
the midst, as a sign that free access to the throne of grace was 
.henceforth granted ; the bloody sacrifice of the Son of God, which 
is eternally valid, was now finished, the temple on Moriah lost 
, its significance henceforth, and its services became empty and 
useless ceremonies. All was finished for which the earnest ex- 



344 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

pectation of the creature had waited, and for which the dead and 
the living had longed in faith : therefore the earth now quaked, 
the rocks rent, the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints 
which slept, arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrec- 
tion (1 Cor. 15 : 20), and went into the holy city, and appeared 
unto many. Even the pagan centurion and his rude soldiers 
(possibly connected with the Germanic legion which was then 
stationed in Syria), deeply moved by the signs which they beheld, 
exclaimed: " Truly this man was the Son of God." And all 
the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things 
which were done, smote their breasts and returned. 

Obs. — The wages of sin is death. The whole human race was 
made subject by sin to death, both temporal and eternal. Christ, 
who knew no sin, assumed the task of atoning for the sin of the 
whole human race. His sufferings are vicarious, his death is 
a sacrifice. He suffered that which we should have suffered, but 
which we could not have suffered without being subjected to eternal 
damnation. It is true that the death which he endured, and the 
condemnation to which he subjected himself, were both temporal; 
nevertheless, they perfectly counterbalanced that eternal death and 
that eternal damnation, which we have deserved, because he obtained 
eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9 : 12), and offered himself without 
spot through the eternal spirit (v. 14), namely, because his eternal 
Godhead, personally united with the suffering human nature, gave 
to these temporal sufferings infinite value, and eternal validity. 

§ 156. The Burial of Christ. 

As the sabbath commenced on the evening of the same day, 
the Jews desired that the three bodies should be removed, after 
their legs had been broken, which was done for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether the individuals were really dead. Pilate 
gave his consent. The soldiers, satisfied that Jesus was already 
dead, did not break his legs (Exodus 12 : 46) ; one of them, 
however, pierced his side with a spear (Zech. 12 : 10), and blood 
and water immediately flowed from the wound. Joseph of Ari- 
mathea, a member of the council, who had been a disciple of Jesus 
secretly, in consequence of his fear of the Jews, took charge of 
the sacred body, after having sought and obtained the governor's 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 345 

permission, and, with the assistance of Nicodemus, laid it in his 
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock (Isai. 58 : 9). 
A large stone was then rolled to the door of the sepulchre. Mary 
Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, who had remained 
at the cross till the body was taken down, followed them, and 
beheld the sepulchre, and the manner in which the body was 
deposited in it. — On the next day, the chief priests came to 
Pilate and desired him to command certain soldiers to watch the 
sepulchre, lest the disciples should remove the body, and then 
say that he was risen from the dead. Pilate complied with their 
wishes, and they made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and 
setting a watch. 

Obs. 1. — While the sacred body of the Eedeemer was thus reposing 
in the grave, his soul departed to the place (Hades, Scheol, § 36. 2, 
Obs.) where all departed souls abide, waiting for the resurrection 
and the judgment. Even this tribute Christ necessarily paid after 
the form of sinful flesh, and herein also he was made like unto us. 
Thus his descent into hell is the last step of his humiliation, but it is 
also the first step of his exaltation, for at this point defeat began to 
change into victory, and lowliness into glory. For he did not go 
thither as all we do, who are kept there until another one redeems 
us ; since he did not suffer death as the wages of sins of his oivn, 
Hades possessed no power over him. He went thither, not con- 
quered by death, but as the conqueror himself of death (Ps. 16 : 10 
compared with Acts 2 : 29-32, and 13 : 35-37), in order to reveal his 
glory there, to preach again to unbelievers who were of old, specially 
the cotemporaries of Noah (1 Pet. 3 : 19, 20), to bring to those who 
had already died in faith, the tidings for which they had long waited, 
that their redemption was finished (Luke 23 : 43), and to take from 
their number the first fruits of the resurrection, and conduct them 
to glory (Matt. 27 : 52). — The parable of the rich man and the poor 
Lazarus (Luke 16 : 19, &c.) sheds much light on the Christian doc- 
trine respecting Hades. 

Obs. 2. — Since the age of Constantine (who died a. d. 337), tradi- 
tion has permanently designated the localities in which the cruci- 
fixion and the burial of Christ are said to have occurred, by churches 
built on these spots. The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the 
several divisions of which belong to the Catholics, the Greeks and 
the Armenians respectively, is built on Mount Acra, within the walls 
of the modern city (§ 75. 3). The whole edifice consists properly of 



346 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

three churches under the same roof — that of the Holy Sepulchre, 
that of Calvary, and that of the Invention [finding) of the Cross. 
The middle portion consists of the chapel of the Greeks and of Calvary 
(Golgotha). It is connected on the west with the grotto of the Holy 
Sepulchre, over which a vast dome is built ; one-half belongs to the 
Catholics, and the other to the Greeks. The subterranean church 
of the Invention of the Cross is attached to the eastern side, and 
marks the spot in which Constantine's mother, Helena, is said to 
have miraculously discovered the three crosses, and to have distin- 
guished between them ; it belongs to the Catholics. The Armenians 
possess several chapels, with which sacred associations are also con- 
nected by tradition. — It was long maintained that the alleged places 
of the crucifixion and the burial could not possibly be the true places, 
since both were situated without the gate of the city, according to 
the evangelists. The latest investigations have, however, discovered 
evident traces of the walls of the ancient city, on the eastern side of 
the church of the Holy Sepulchre. It can, therefore, be no longer 
denied that it is at least possible that these are the true places. 

§ 157. The Resurrection of Christ.— Mary Magdalene. 

1. Matt. 28 : 1, &c. — It was very early in the morning (Sun- 
day), before the sun had risen, that Mary Magdalene, Mary the 
mother of James, and Salome, proceeded to the grave for the 
purpose of anointing the body. But the Lord was risen before 
they arrived. Heaven and earth had united in giving solemnity 
to that moment : there was a great earthquake, and an angel, 
whose countenance was like lightning, and whose raiment was 
white as snow, descended from heaven, rolled back the stone 
from the door, and sat upon it. The keepers, who beheld all, 
shook with fear and fell to the ground. 

Obs. 1. — The Eedeemer, in whom the fulness of the Godhead 
dwelt, could accomplish that which transcends the power of man — 
although he died, he conquered death, and in place of suffering his 
holy body to see corruption, he exalted it as a new, glorious and 
blessed abode of his holy and perfected humanity. By dying as a 
sacrifice, he atoned for the sins of the world which he voluntarily 
took upon himself, and abolished them ; at the same time, he over- 
came the form of sinful flesh, purified it, and clothed it with eternal 
glorv. Mortality was swallowed up of immortality, and lost in the 
infinite fulness of his life. — The resurrection of Christ is therefore 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 347 

totally distinct from cases like the resurrection of Lazarus and others; 
in these the departed soul was only temporarily re-united with the 
same mortal body that, sooner or later, was again subjected to death 
and corruption. But when Christ rose from the grave, his bodily 
nature was glorified, and invested with immortality and eternal 
glory : " Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death 
hath no more dominion over him" (Rom. 6 : 9). His corporeal na- 
ture or body was ethereal and so refined, that it was exempt from 
the various restrictive conditions and states to which our sinful 
bodies are subject: thus, walls and closed doors were no obstruc- 
tions to it;, it was commonly, when a contrary result was not chosen 
by his will, invisible to the human eye, &c. If Christ even partook 
of earthly food after his resurrection (§ 158 : 2), it does not follow 
that he needed it ; the cause rather lay in his desire to remove the 
error of his disciples who supposed that they beheld an incorporeal 
and ghost-like form or an apparition (Luke 24 : 37). See, however, 
Matt. 26 : 29 ; Mark 14 : 25 ; Rev. 22 : 1 ; Genesis 18 : 8, &e. 

Obs. 2. — By Christ's resurrection from the dead, he is declared 
with power to his disciples and to us to be the Son of God (Rom. 1 : 
4), the conqueror of hell and death, who opened the way for us, and 
by virtue of his resurrection, will change our vile body also, that it 
may be fashioned like unto his glorious body ( Phil. 3 : 20, 21 ; 1 
Cor. 15 : 20-52). The death and the resurrection of Christ are the 
two hinges on which the history of the world turns ; they are the 
foundations of the Church, the pillars of the faith, the pledges of 
eternal life. His death was the abolition of the guilt and punish- 
ment of the sins of the whole human race ; his resurrection was the 
exhibition of that new life flowing from him, which renews and sanc- 
tifies while it pervades the human race, as the blood flows from the 
heart, and fills the channels in the body. Our justification depends 
on his death, our sanctification depends on his resurrection ; it is 
only when both are appropriated in faith that we obtain full redemp- 
tion (Rom. 4 : 25 ; 5 : 10 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 10 ; Eph. 2 : 5, 6 ; \ 193). 

2. Matt. 28 : 1, &c; Mark 16 : 1, &c. j Luke 24 : 1, &c; 
John 20 : 1, &c. — Mary Magdalene had preceded the other 
women, and was the first who reached the grave. When she saw 
that the stone was taken away from the sepulchre, and that the 
latter was empty, she was alarmed, and, taking another road, she 
ran and communicated to Peter and John all that she had seen 
(John 20 : 1, 2). — In the mean time, the other women had 



348 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

arrived at the grave ; they saw the angel, who announced that the 
Lord was risen, reminded them of His predictions respecting the 
event, and promised that they should see Him in Galilee (Matt. 
28 : 5-7). — Peter and John, in consequence of the tidings re- 
ceived from Mary Magdalene, also hastened to the grave. The 
latter, impelled by a longing expectation, reached it somewhat 
sooner than Peter, who was usually prompt in his movements, 
but was now bowed down by the consciousness of his guilt and 
occupied with his own heart. John glanced into the empty 
grave, but did not venture to enter until Peter, more decided 
than himself, had preceded him. These two disciples had scarcely 
departed, when Mary Magdalene returned alone to. the grave. 
As she stood there weeping, she looked into the sepulchre, and 
saw two angels, to whom she mournfully said : " They have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." As 
she turned away from them, Jesus stood before her ; she supposed 
him to be the gardener, until she heard the well-known voice of 
love pronouncing her name : " Mary." Full of surprise and joy, 
she exclaimed : " Rabboni" (that is, Master), and would have 
touched him ; but Jesus said : " Touch me not (^ pov arttov, that 
is, to adhere, to hold fast to), for I am not yet ascended to my 
Father : but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend 
unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" 
(John 20 : 11-17). — The Lord appeared also to the other two 
women on their return, and referred them to the time in which 
he would appear to them in Galilee (Matt. 28 : 9, 10). — When 
the chief priests learned from the keepers all that had occurred, 
they bribed the latter to say that while they slept, the disciples 
had stolen the body away. 

Obs. — Christ did not permit Mary to touch him, while he com- 
manded Thomas to do so. (John 20 : 27, § 158. 2.) The following 
will probably explain the sense and connection of the difficult words 
addressed to Mary. She is so much excited, so completely controlled 
by her passionate joy on seeing the Master alive before her, whom 
she had regarded as lost to her, that she is impelled to embrace him 
and forcibly retain him, lest he should be torn from her again. But 
this expression of her love was not free from carnal impetuosity and 
ungodly self-will. Christ had said on a previous occasion: "It is 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 349 

expedient for you that I go away." (John 16 : 7.) If he again went 
away, by ascending to heaven, this departure itself secured for them 
his presence even unto the end of the world. (Matt. 28 : 20, § 160, 
1. Obs.) But when he addressed Mary, it was not the time to em- 
brace his knees, and constrain him to remain with his people, for 
"he was not yet ascended to his Father." — (For the word arctoiuu, 
see Passow, I. 376, 5th ed. ; " to fasten one's self to, tie, hang to, 
hold fast to ; to occupy one's self with ; to seize, hold, touch, handle.") 

§ 158. The two Disciples of Emmaus, and the Ticelve. 

1. Mark 16 : 12, 13; Luke 24 : 13, &c — On the afternoon 
of the same day, two disciples belonging to the larger division, 
one of whom was named Cleopas, went to Emmaus, eight miles 
distant from Jerusalem, and talked together on the road of all 
these things which had happened. Jesus drew near and went 
with them, but their eyes were holden, that they should not know 
him. He referred to the subject of their previous conversation, 
and when they confessed that they could not understand these 
things, he said : "0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that 
the prophets have spoken I Ought not Christ to have suffered 
these things, and to enter into his glory?" And beginning at 
Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
scriptures the things concerning himself. When they reached 
the village, they constrained him to tarry with them, but it was 
not till he sat at meat with them, and gave to them the bread 
which he had broken after the blessing, that their eyes were 
opened and they knew him : and he vanished out of their sight. 
But they said one to another : u Did not our heart burn within 
us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to 
us the scriptures ?" And they rose up the same hour, and 
returned to Jerusalem, and told the assembled disciples all that 
had happened to them. 

2. Luke 24 : 36, &c. ; John 20 : 19, &c— As they thus spake, 
the doors being shut, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, 
and said : " Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and 
affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. In order to 
convince them of their error, he showed them his hands and feet, 
remarking : "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me 

30 



350 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

have," and he also ate a portion of a broiled fish and of a honey- 
comb. He said again: " Peace be unto you. — As my Father 
hath sent me, even so send I you." When he had said this, he 
breathed on them, (giving them a pledge and earnest of the 
complete outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost), 
and said: " Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye 
remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye 
retain, they are retained." — Thomas was not present on this occa- 
sion ; when the other disciples said to him : "We have seen the 
Lord," he replied: " Except I shall see in his hands the print 
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and 
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Eight days 
afterwards, the disciples, including Thomas, were again assem- 
bled; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the 
midst, saying: "Peace be unto you." And, turning to Thomas, 
he said: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and 
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not 
faithless (unbelieving), but believing." Then all the doubts of 
that disciple vanished, and, adoring Christ, he exclaimed : " My 
Lord and my God !" Jesus said to him : " Thomas, because 
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that 
have not seen me, and yet have believed. 

Obs. — Thomas is often unjustly condemned. His doubts are not 
those of the unbeliever, from whose heart these proceed, but they are 
those of the inquirer, whose understanding alone suggests them. 
The former does not believe even when the understanding is con- 
vinced, as the Pharisees did not believe, although they beheld the 
Saviour's signs and wonders. The latter investigates and scrutinizes 
honestly and candidly, not for the purpose of finding a support for 
unbelief, but for the purpose of discovering the truth, and, like 
Thomas, when he has found the truth, he submits to it absolutely 
and unconditionally. Thomas was a man in whom the power of the 
intellect predominated — he could not heartily believe, until he had 
investigated. An opposite tendency is seen in Peter and John ; the 
direct impulse of the heart conducted them to the truth, and con- 
strained the understanding to proceed in the same direction. The 
characteristic features of Thomas are perfectly compatible with 
Christian principles, and are entitled to regard — they are accordingly 
owned and admitted by Christ in his address to Thomas. Still, the 



RF-DEMPTION AND SALVATION. 351 

peculiar character of Peter and John is more blessed ; in its efforts 
to enter the sanctuary of faith, it is not compelled to engage in a 
painful struggle with the outposts stationed at a distance by Criti- 
cism. — In forming an estimate of the character of Thomas, the pas- 
sage, John 11 : 16, ought not to be overlooked. 



§ 159. Peter's new Call. — The Institution of Baptism. 

1. John 21 : 1, &c. — The festive week had now closed, and 
the disciples had returned to their home in Galilee, whither the 
Lord had repeatedly directed them to proceed. — Peter had fallen 
so deeply, that he needed a formal and solemn restoration to his 
apostolic office. The new call, like the first, which appointed him 
to be a fisher of men, was given at the sea of Tiberias, in the 
same place and in circumstances of a similarly significant cha- 
racter. He had been fishing all night, together with John, James, 
Thomas and Nathanael. In the morning Jesus appeared on the 
shore, but was not recognized by them. In obedience to his 
directions they cast the net on the right side of the ship, and now 
they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. John 
exclaimed : " It is the Lord !" and Peter at once cast himself 
into the sea, in order to swim to the shore before the vessel 
arrived. The Lord invites them to partake of a meal which is 
symbolically significant, like the draught of the fishes — a celestial 
banquet following the conclusion of earthly toil. After the meal, 
the Lord asked Peter thrice, as the latter had been guilty of a 
denial thrice : " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me V 9 The 
impetuous boldness of an earlier period is departed; conscious 
both of his weakness, and also of his love to his Master, he an- 
swers in humility : " Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest 
that I love thee." Each time the Lord subjoined : " Feed my 
sheep," and, referring to Peter's own death on the cross, an- 
nounced that he was counted worthy (Acts 5 : 41) not only to 
labor but also to suffer for his Master. 

2. The Lord afterwards appeared to an assembly of his follow- 
ers, above five hundred in number (1 Cor. 15 : 6), on a mountain 
in Galilee, which he had appointed. Here he took leave of this 
larger circle of his disciples, declared himself to be the Lord of 



352 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

heaven and earth, commissioned the apostles to preach the Gospel 
(Matt. 28 : 16, &c), to all the world, and instituted Baptism as 
the Sacrament of regeneration for the kingdom of God. "All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore 
and make disciples (Va^i' stoats) of all nations by baptizing 
(jSartT 'L^ovtsg) them in the name (si? to bvofia) of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and by teaching (§ihaoxovts$) 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you j 
.... he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he 
that believeth not, shall be damned. " As the Lord parted from 
them, he gave the promise: "Lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world. " 

Obs. — The nature and the significance of Baptism are considered 
in I 189. 

§ 160. The Ascension of Christ 

1. Mark 16 : 19, &c. ; Luke 24 : 50, &c. ; Acts 1 : 4, &c. — 
After Christ had repeatedly appeared to his disciples during the 
forty days which immediately followed his resurrection, and tes- 
tified to them that he was risen, the time arrived in which he 
should be raised above all terrestrial restrictions, and return to 
the glory which he had with the Father before the world was 
(John 17 : 5). The eleven disciples had gone to Jerusalem a 
short time previous to the day of Pentecost, probably by the 
Lord's directions; it was needful that they should obtain a season 
for meditation, undisturbed by worldly business or labor, and 
prepare for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. He assembled 
them for the last time on mount Olivet, in the neighborhood of 
Bethany, in order that they might see his glorification in the 
same place in which they had seen his lowliness and his exceed- 
ing sorrow and distress. They did not yet understand the laws 
of the development of the kingdom of God, and inquired : 
(( Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Is- 
rael ?" But he answered : " It is not for you to know the times 
or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But 
ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 353 

in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth." Then he lifted up his hands, and blessed them, and, 
while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out 
of their sight,- concealing from the feeble eyes of the disciples 
the incomprehensible and exalted mystery of this glorification. 
While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, two 
angels in white apparel stood by them, who said : " Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Then they re- 
turned to Jerusalem. 

Obs. — Christ's ascension to heaven is the necessary completion 
of his resurrection, the summit of his transfiguration and glorifica- 
tion ; therein he resumed fully the divine majesty of which he had 
divested himself at his incarnation. It constituted his return to his 
eternal supermundane form of existence (^op^rj &ov, form of God, 
Phil. 2 : 6). But God is as well beyond ^ls, exalted above, distinct 
from, and separate from, every creature (transcendence), as he is also 
here, omnipresent, filling, supporting and preserving every creature 
(immanence). Hence, the ascension is as much a going away, by 
which Christ was exalted above every creature, as a coming, that 
fills and penetrates all (Matt. 18 : 20 ; 28 : 20). 

2. The state and the operations of Christ which succeeded his 
ascension as God-man, are designated in the Scriptures by the 
figurative expression : sitting on the right hand of God (Matt. 
26 : 64; Acts 7 : 55; Eph. 1 : 20, &c). It implies the heavenly 
and divinely-powerful continuance and completion of his work on 
earth. As a prophet, he calls, gathers and enlightens the Church 
by his Word and by his Spirit; as a king, he rules over all the 
world, and is the head over all things to the Church ; as a high- 
priest, he communicates to us through the Sacraments the 
blessed powers which were won by his death and resurrection, and 
as our advocate evermore makes intercession for us in the pre- 
sence of the Father (Heb. 9 : 24 ; Eom. 8 : 34 ; 1 John 2 : 1, 2). 

Obs. — Even as the divine nature of Christ during his abode on 
earth took part of the lowliness, of the form of a servant, and of all 
the sufferings of his human nature, so also his human nature is ex- 
alted and fullv shares in all the glory of the divine nature. Since 
30* 



354 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the ascension, it is not merely the deity of Christ, but Christ alto- 
gether, God and man in one Person, the same Christ that lay in the 
manger as a helpless child, and that bare the sins of the world on 
the cross, who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, the ruler and 
the judge of the world. For Christ became man not for a season 
only, but for all eternity. For he certainly received the whole of 
human nature, body, soul, and spirit, into & personal union with his 
divine nature, and this union cannot possibly be ever dissolved. 
Besides, our redemption confessedly depends on our connection with 
the Redeemer, and that connection depends on the fact that he is 
flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones. All that Christ has done 
and suffered for us, would be without advantage and in vain, if he 
should cease to be true man. But as certainly as he was raised, 
body, soul and spirit, to the right hand of the Father, so certainly 
he will, as the first-born among many brethren (Rom. 8 : 29), here- 
after draw us to himself, and make us joint-heirs of his eternal 
glory (Rom. 8 : 17), if, namely, wo have truly received in ourselves 
the power and the merit of his death and resurrection. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PROMULGATION OF SALVATION BY THE APOSTLES. 

§ 161. The Design and Significance of this Period. 

" So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word op 
God." (Rom. 10 : 17.) 

" Built UpOll THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, JeSUS 

Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly 
framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord." (Eph. 2 : 20, 21. ) 

1. The great salvation had now been secured in the person of 
the Redeemer. He had offered an atoning sacrifice by his death 
for the sins of the whole world, which was of eternal validity 
and infinite value, and brought to light in his resurrection the 
powers of eternal life by which all things are renewed. Still, 
salvation in Christ is extraneous, remote from the human race 
and productive of no advantage to it, until it is personally appro- 
priated and received into the very sources of man's life. Now it 
is the office of the Holy Spirit to communicate and appropriate 
salvation. The first and immediate condition ; accordingly, on 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 355 

which further progress in the kingdom of God depended, was 
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh, which the pro- 
phets had already predicted (as Joel 2 : 28, &c), and Christ had 
distinctly promised (John 14 : 16;. 16 : 7, &c). The condition, 
on the part of man, on which salvation is appropriated, is Faith, 
that is, the cheerful, entire and confident surrender of the whole 
individual to the salvation which is offered in Christ. Now faith 
cometh by hearing (Rom. 10 : 17) the preaching of the Gospel, 
inasmuch as without the latter, such a surrender to a salvation 
that is given historically, is not possible \ on this account Christ 
commissioned his disciples to preach the Gospel to every 
creature. 

2. But this preaching is derived from the Word of God, since 
God alone can make known the deep mysteries of his grace in a 
credible, sure and reliable manner. The apostles consequently 
needed an immediate divine illumination (Inspiration, Theo- 
pneusty), by which their doctrine was preserved free from every 
error, and the full knowledge of salvation was generated in their 
spirit. Their instructive intercourse with their divine teacher 
had already sown in their spirit the living seeds of the Word, but 
it was only under the special superintendence of the Spirit of 
truth sent by Christ, that these could bring forth the fruit of 
saving knowledge and doctrine. Many precious words of their 
Master still lay as an unknown and unemployed treasure in their 
hearts, respecting which they needed the explanations of the Holy 
Spirit; Christ had, besides, reserved many things, which they 
could not yet bear, and had promised that the Spirit should there- 
after guide them into all truth. (§ 133. 2.) The mere oral 
preaching of the apostles was not sufficient; it did not satisfy 
the wants even of their own times. The word that was simply 
heard was easily darkened in the mind and forgotten ; it required 
a continual renewal and a stable and unchanging support, which 
the apostles could not furnish to particular congregations at a 
distance, unless they communicated their instructions in a written 
form. Their oral preaching could still less satisfy the wants of 
succeeding centuries, since the sound doctrine of the Gospel, on 
which the saving faith of the world was to be established, would 
have been subjected to losses, perversions, and admixture with 



856 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

foreign matter through human error, and could not have served 
as a firm, unchanging, eternally reliable foundation of salvation. 
The great and momentous task of this period, consequently, was — 
the exhibition of the Word of God of the New Testament, as the 
living source of all religious knowledge, as the impregnable tower 
of faith, as the unchangeable foundation of every subsequent 
promulgation of salvation. 

3. Another task assigned to this period, connected with the 
former, and not less momentous, was the establishment of the 
Church on the foundation of the Word of G-od. The Church 
(considered as contentum) is the organized union of those who 
are received through regeneration of water and of the Spirit into 
the communion of the life of Christ — (the body of Christ, Eph. 
1 : 22, 23 ; 1 Cor. 12 : 12-27) ; the Church (considered as con- 
tinens) is the institution by which all the members of this com- 
munion are held together and encircled — the sphere of action of 
the Holy Spirit, wherein he calls, gathers, enlightens, justifies, 
and sanctifies all Christendom on earth, and preserves it in Jesus 
Christ in the one true faith ; the Church is, under the care and 
superintendence of the Holy Spirit, the guardian of the Word 
of God, the fosterer of all divine knowledge and all divine life 
among men, and the distributer of heavenly grace through the 
Sacraments entrusted to it. Like the protection, preservation 
and extension of the church in every century, its very foundation 
also is the work of the Holy Spirit, accomplished through the 
apostles whom He chose and endowed with many extraordinary 
and miraculous gifts of grace. 

Obs. 1. — A charisma or gift of grace is a natural endowment of 
the spirit enlarged and sanctified by the operation of the Holy Spirit. 
The different gifts of grace which were exercised in the apostolic 
Church are enumerated in 1 Cor. 12 : 1-12, and 28-30. 

Obs. 2. — The Acts of the Apostles (? 184.) constitute the source 
whence the history of the apostles is derived. 

§162. The Day of Pentecost, 

1. Acts 1 : 13, &c. — After the ascension of the Lord, the dis- 
ciples (one hundred and twenty in number) abode, according to 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 857 

his command, in Jerusalem, and continued with one accord in 
prayer and supplication, waiting for the promised outpouring of 
the Holy Ghost. It was, however, needful that the significant 
number of the tioelve apostles, which had disappeared after the 
departure of Judas, should be restored previous to that event, in 
order that, after it had occurred, they might go forth to the 
twelve tribes of Israel (Acts 26 : 7 ; James 1 : 1) as the messen- 
gers of the Messianic salvation. Peter, the most energetic of the 
disciples, as well as occupying a prominent position among them, 
which the Lord had already assigned to him, adopted measures 
for filling the vacancy. Two persons were appointed, who were 
deemed to be qualified, as they had heard the discourses and seen 
the acts of the Lord from the beginning — Joseph, called Bar- 
sabas, and surnamed Justus, and Matthias; after the disciples 
had prayed, they gave forth their lots, and the latter was chosen. 

Obs. — It has been supposed by some that (according to Acts 1 : 
4, 8) the Eleven possessed no authority to complete the number of 
Twelve, particularly before the Spirit was poured out, and that the 
Lord himself had appointed the Twelfth apostle, namely Paul, to 
whom the call would be given at the proper time. But this view 
excludes the important fact that the Twelve had been specially ap- 
pointed for the twelve tribes of Israel, and that the peculiarity in the 
case of Paul, consisted in his commission, as the Thirteenth, to. be 
the Apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9 : 15.; Eom. 11 : 13, &c. ; \ 167). 

2. Acts 2 : 1, &c. — In the mean time, the feast of Pentecost 
arrived. The disciples were all with one accord engaged in 
prayer in the place in which they usually assembled, which was, 
probably, Solomon's porch (Acts 3:1,11; 5 : 12 ; § 81, Obs. 2). 
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 
A body of fire and of light moved above them, then parted, and 
descended in distinct tongues of fire on each of them. And they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. The miracle, which 
seemed to be a striking phenomenon in the natural world, drew 
large numbers of the people together, among whom were also 
many of the strangers who had come to keep the feast. Every 
man heard the unlearned Galileans speak, in his own tongue 



358 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

wherein he was born, the wonderful works of God ; they were all 
amazed, and said: "What meaneth this?" Others mocking 
said: " These men are full of new wine." Then Peter arose 
and addressed the people, being the first who announced that the 
work of salvation was completed. He declared that the discipbs 
who spoke were not drunken, but that the prophecy of Joel 
(§ 100. 2) respecting the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh 
was fulfilled before all ; he declared, further, that Jesus of Naza- 
reth, the Messiah, whom they had crucified, but whom God had 
raised up and exalted unto the right hand of glory, as David 
already predicted concerning him (Ps. 16 : 10 ) 110 : 1), had 
now poured out his Spirit upon his disciples. When the people 
heard these things, their hearts were pierced, and they asked, 
full of concern for the salvation of their souls : " Men and 
brethren, what shall we do V Peter answered : " Repent, and 
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for 
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and 
to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call." Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized : 
and the same day there were added unto them about three thou- 
sand souls. 

Obs. 1. — The first Pentecostal season of the New Testament is 
the fulfilment of the typical festival of the Old Testament (§ 49. 2). 
The first sheaves of the great harvest in the field of the kingdom of 
God (Matt. 9 : 37 ; John 4 : 35) were offered to the Lord of the har- 
vest in the new temple of the Spirit (John 4 : 23). The church of 
the people of God of the old covenant had, on the same day, centu- 
ries ago, been founded on the demands of the Sinaitic Law, but now 
the Church of the new covenant was founded on the fulfilment of the 
Law and sealed with the first and the most wonderful outpouring of 
the Spirit. It was said in the former case : " Thou shalt ;" but it is 
now said: " Thou canst" (Ezek. 36 : 27). The Spirit of God is the 
eternal uncreated light of all spirits, a divine fire, which, while it con- 
sumes all that is ungodly, enlightens, warms and animates every crea- 
ture. Hence the Spirit appeared here in fire, as he appears in water 
in ordinary Baptism, and completed the regeneration of the disciples, 
who had already been consecrated in the water of the baptism of 
John to the new life that proceeds from Christ ; they are now first 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 359 

of all sealed in him by the generation of the Spirit (John 3 : 3, 5), 
and qualified to be the messengers of salvation, the founders of the 
Church. 

Obs. 2. — The gift of tongues (yJuWuj- "kateiv) which the Lord spe- 
cially mentioned when he promised the gifts of grace (Mark 16 : 17), 
and which was frequently bestowed during the apostolic age, con- 
sisted of an ecstatic mode of speaking, during which the fulness of 
divine inspiration and the resistless power of the new views that 
were given and that were derived from " the deep things of God" 
(1 Cor. 2 : 10), by the aid of the Spirit, broke through the narrow 
bounds of the ordinary mode of speaking (1 Cor. ch. 14). — On the 
present occasion the gift of tongues assumed a distinct and peculiar 
form. Each of the many strangers who had come to the city to keep 
the feast, heard the apostles speak in his own mother tongue, or the 
language of the country whence he came. According to one mode 
of interpretation, the miracle occurred in the speaker alone — the 
apostles were at once qualified to speak in foreign languages which 
they had not previously learned. According to another mode of 
interpretation, it is more probable that the miracle occurred both 
in the speakers and in the hearers — those among the latter who 
were susceptible, being controlled alike by the influence of the Spirit 
who was present, understood the ecstatic speech of the apostles (in a 
superhuman language) as clearly as if they had been addressed in 
their own languages respectively, and hence could not judge other- 
wise than that they heard the familiar tongue of their own homes. 
Those, on the contrary, who were not susceptible, merely heard unin- 
telligible sounds, which, with unholy mockery, they compared to the 
stammering of drunken persons. — The gift of tongues, in the form 
which it here assumed, plainly pointed, retrospectively, to the con- 
fusion of tongues in Babel, of which it was the antitype — it also 
pointed, prospectively, to that day in which one language and one 
mind would again bind the children of the kingdom together, of 
which it was the type and the pledge. The Church is in reality and 
in the highest perfection, all that the tower of Babel was designed 
to be : it is a building whose top reaches unto heaven, uniting 
heaven and earth, receiving all nations in its inclosure, forming them 
into one body, and perpetuating their union. 

§ 163. The inner state of the Church in Jerusalem. 

1. Acts 2 : 42-47; 4 : 32-37. — The newly-converted be- 
lievers continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- 



360 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. The apostles 
with great power gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus, and did many wonders and signs in his name. The Lord 
daily added to the church those that were saved. The multitude 
of them that believed were of one heart, and of one soul : neither 
said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed 
was his own. Although many belonged to the poorest classes of 
the people, there was not one among them that lacked \ for as 
many as were possessors of lands or houses (like Joses Barnabas 
a Levite of Cyprus) sold their property, and deposited the pro- 
ceeds in a common purse, whence the wants of the destitute 
were supplied. They continued daily with one accord in the 
temple, broke bread from house to house, and did eat their meat 
(Agapde, " feasts of charity," Jude, verse 12) with gladness and 
singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the 
people. 

Obs. — These Agapae proceeded from the spirit of brotherly love 
which prevailed in the apostolic age and united all the members of 
the Church as one family. All distinction between the rich and the 
poor was here obliterated ; benevolence acquired an exalted charac- 
ter and retained none of the repulsive features which belong to the 
ordinary act of bestowing alms. The Agapae were always held in 
connection with the Lord's Supper, which they either preceded or 
followed. — They were generally observed in the Church until the 
fourth century ; after that period they were gradually discontinued 
in consequence of the abuses which began to prevail, after having 
commenced already in the days of the apostles (1 Cor. 11 : 17-22). 

2. Acts 5 : 1-11. — While the Church exhibited these glo- 
rious features in the mind and in the walk of the members, un- 
soundness of principles and hypocrisy crept into it at an early 
day. A certain man named Ananias coveted the honor which 
belongs to self-denying brotherly love. In concert with his wife 
Sapphira he sold his property, and brought a certain part only of 
the price to the apostles, alleging at the same time that he had 
brought to them the whole. Peter immediately saw his hypoc- 
risy, and said : "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie 
to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the 
land ? While it remained, was it not thine own ? And after it 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 361 

was sold, was it not in thine own power ? Thou hast not lied 
unto men, but unto God/' When Ananias heard these words, 
he fell down and gave up the ghost, smitten by the judgment of 
God. His wife, who entered several hours afterwards, without 
beino- aware of this event, repeated' the same falsehood, and died 
in the same manner. Then great fear came upon all the church, 
and upon as many as heard these things. 

Obs. — This is the first example of the church discipline which the 
Lord has authorized his Church to exercise as an admonitory token 
of the future judgment (Matt. 16 : 18, &c. ; 18 : 18 ; John 20 : 22, 
&c). The time and the circumstances furnish an explanation of 
the rigor and terrible form which that discipline here assumes, and 
of the additional severity which an immediate divine punishment 
gives to it. It was, precisely at the time when the Church was first 
established, indispensably necessary that such a warning example 
should be given both to those who were within and also to those who 
were without its pale. It may be also remarked, that the guilt of 
Ananias, at such a time and under such circumstances, when he was 
surrounded by believers glowing with the fire of their first love, and 
when he beheld such impressive demonstrations of the Spirit of God, 
was far greater and more heinous than it would have been at another 
time and under other circumstances. 

3. Acts 6 : 1-7. — Another unsound feeling was soon mani- 
fested, which it was also needful to subdue. The Church, and 
even the apostles to a certain extent, were not entirely released 
from the particularism of the Jews (which restricted the election 
of God to their own nation), or, at least, had not attained to a 
full and clear perception of the truth that the Gentiles, even 
though they claimed no bodily descent from Abraham, were ne- 
vertheless entitled to equal rights with themselves. The con- 
verted Jews were disposed to carry with them into the Church 
their deeply-rooted pride of descent; it led them to regard even 
the Hellenistic Jews, who exhibited greater conformity to pa- 
ganism in language and education, as inferior to themselves, and 
may have subjected the latter to external disadvantages also; for 
these complained at least that their widows were neglected in the 
daily distribution of food, &c. For the purpose of obviating 
such abuses effectually, the apostles gave directions that seven 
31 



362 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

deacons should be chosen. To these officers, all of whom appear 
to have been Hellenists (Jews, speaking the Greek language), 
the care of the poor was entrusted, after the apostles had set them 
apart by the imposition of hands. This procedure was of special 
importance, as it first of all prepared the way for the emancipa- 
tion of the Church from the fetters of an outward and legal 
Judaism. 

§ 164. The first Persecutions of the Church. — (Peter and John.) 

Acts ch. 3 and 4. — The miraculous healing in the name of 
Jesus Christ by Peter and John of a man lame from his birth, 
who sat at a gate of the temple and begged, produced an extra- 
ordinary sensation, and attracted large numbe-rs of the people to 
the presence of these apostles. Peter availed himself of the op- 
portunity to preach to the multitude Jesus the crucified and risen 
Saviour (by whose divine power the lame man had been healed), 
in order that they might through repentance and faith in Him 
of whom all the prophets had spoken, obtain remission of sins 
and eternal life. This discourse was crowned with eminent suc- 
cess ; many of the hearers believed, so that the number of the 
members of the chnrch was increased and now amounted to five 
thousand, exclusive of the women and the children. While the 
apostles were speaking, the captain of the men who kept guard 
in the temple, seized them and put them in prison, agreeably to 
the commands of the Council. On the next day they were ex- 
amined. They testified in the presence of the Sanhedrin, which 
was controlled by a Sadducean influence, that the lame man had 
been healed by the name of Jesus Christ, whom they, the mem- 
bers of the Council and the people, had crucified, but whom God 
had raised from the dead. " This is the stone," they added, 
" which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the 
head of the corner (Ps. 118 : 22). Neither is there salvation in 
any other : for there is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." The man who had 
been healed and who was present, furnished in his own person in- 
controvertible evidence of the truth of their words, and the 
members of the Council were unable to do more than to command 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 36S 

the apostles that they should henceforth not speak at all, nor 
teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered : 
" Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the 
things which we have seen and heard. " They were dismissed 
by the council after the latter had further threatened them, and 
returned to their own company, to whom they reported all that 
the chief priests and the elders had said. Then all prayed to God 
with one accord that he would grant boldness to his servants in 
speaking his word; and when they had prayed, the place was 
shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all 
filled with the Holy Ghost. 

2. Acts 5 : 12-42. — In the mean time the Church daily in- 
creased in number, the apostles wrought many signs and wonders, 
and all the people magnified them, insomuch that they brought 
to them the sick both of Jerusalem and of the neighboring cities, 
and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of 
Peter passing by, might overshadow some of them. The mem- 
bers of the Council, still more imbittered by these occurrences, 
seized the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But 
the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison-doors, and 
commanded the apostles to go to the temple and teach the people. 
On the next morning the Council again assembled, but were in- 
formed by the officers who had been sent to the prison, that it 
had been found shut with all safety, and carefully guarded on the 
outside, but that the prisoners had nevertheless disappeared. At 
the same time they received tidings that the apostles were pub- 
licly teaching in the temple. When the latter were at length 
brought before them and questioned, they said : " We ought to 
obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up 
Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree : him hath God exalted 
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give re- 
pentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his wit- 
nesses of these things." When the Jews heard that, they 
were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them. But on 
. this occasion all danger was averted from the apostles by Gama- 
liel, a scribe who was held in high esteem, and who, after re- 
ferring to the failure which followed the attempts of certain false 



364 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

teachers, advised the Council to submit the whole case of the 
prisoners to the judgment of God. "If this counsel or this 
work be of men/' he said, " it will come to nought : but if it be 
of God, ye cannot overthrow it ; lest haply ye be found even to 
fight against God." The apostles were dismissed, after having 
been beaten and commanded that they should not speak in the 
name of Jesus. But they departed from the presence of the 
Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame 
for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they 
ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. 

§165. Con tin u a tion , — ( Stephen . ) 

Acts 6 : 8, &c. — As the Church had at the beginning observed 
the ceremonial law with great care and precision, the people re- 
garded the believers with much favor. But in proportion as the 
disciples, whose number was greatly multiplied, became convinced 
that Christianity was designed to be a universal religion, and 
assumed an attitude opposed to the outward and lifeless ceremo- 
nial service of Judaism, the hatred of the people was developed. 
This tendency to cultivate religion with greater freedom and spi- 
rituality, appeared with unusual distinctness in Stephen, the most 
eminent of the seven deacons ; he was full of faith and of the 
Holy Ghost, and richly endowed both with knowledge and with 
the power to do signs and miracles. A discussion in which he 
was engaged with the rulers of the Hellenistic synagogue, fur- 
nished his opponents with the first opportunity for accusing him 
before the Council of having spoken blasphemous words against 
the temple and the law. When he stood forth to defend himself, 
his face seemed to be the face of an angel, radiant with the 
brightness of the Spirit that dwelt in him. He delivered an 
address, in which he reviewed the history of the old covenant, 
declared most positively and energetically that he firmly believed 
in the divine revelations of the Old Testament, and, at the same 
time, contrasted the faithfulness and wonderful character of the 
grace of God with Israel's perverse and hardened mind, both of 
which were revealed through the whole course of that history. 
But he was interrupted in his discourse by the excitement which 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 365 

his words had already produced in the Sanhedrin, and he closed 
with a direct reference to the evidences which they gave of their 
own hardness of heart. They gnashed on him with their teeth, 
but he looked up into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and 
Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and he said: "Be- 
hold, T see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on 
the right hand of God." Then they cried out, stopped their ears, 
cast him out of the city, and stoned him. Stephen, the first of 
the long list of Christian martyrs, prayed : " Lord Jesus, receive 
my spirit!" He kneeled down, and expired, after saying: 
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge IV (A. D. 39.) 

Obs. — As the Sanhedrin or Council did not possess authority to 
inflict capital punishments, the stoning of Stephen was not a legal 
execution, but a tumultuous violation of the law. — Stephen died, 
but Paul, who had consented to his death, was called to supply his 
place, and conducted the work which he had commenced, to a most 
glorious issue. 

§ 166. Conversion of the Samaritans. — Simon the Sorcerer. — 
The* Ethiopian Eunuch. 

1. Acts 8 : 1, &c. — The slaughter of Stephen was the signal 
for a general persecution of the Church. Paul (§ 167) was one 
of the most active of its enemies; he entered every house in 
search of the Christians, and dragged men and women to prison. 
The members of the Church in Jerusalem were thus scattered 
for a season, but the apostles did not depart from the place. Now 
this dispersion of the believers became the source of a blessing 
of incalculable value — these scattered members of the church 
carried the Gospel, which had hitherto been confined within a 
narrow circle, to all the cities of Judea and Samaria. Philip, 
one of the seven deacons, preached Christ in the city of Samaria, 
and gathered in abundance the fruit which the Lord's labors had 
already prepared. (§ 143. 2.) — A certain man, named Simon, 
who was celebrated in that region as a sorcerer, and even regarded 
as an emanation of God, on seeing the signs and wonders which 
were done by Philip, was convinced of the divine character of' 
the new doctrine, and was baptized. When the apostles who 
were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of 
31* 



366 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

God, they sent Peter and John thither. They arrived, prayed 
for those who had been baptized, and, laying their hands on them, 
communicated to them the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. 
When Simon saw the effect of the laying on of the apostles' 
hands, he offered them money on condition that they would 
enable him also to communicate the Holy Ghost to any on whom 
he might choose to lay his hands. But Peter, filled with holy 
indignation, replied: "Thy money perish with thee, because 
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with 
money !" and charged him to repent of the wickedness of his 
heart. Simon was subdued by this severe rebuke, and expressed 
himself in the language of penitence ; the deep impression, how- 
ever, which he received, appears to have been soon effaced, as it 
is stated elsewhere [by the early Christian writers] that he sub- 
sequently resumed the practice of his magic arts. 

2. Acts 8 : 26, &c. — Philip was then directed by the angel of 
the Lord to repair to the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. 
He there met a man that sought the Lord, an officer of Queen 
Candace of Meroe (in Ethiopia), returning from Jerusalem, 
whither he had gone to worship. As it is not stated whether he 
was a Jew or simply a proselyte of the gate, it seems more pro- 
bable that he was a Jew by birth. Philip approached his chariot 
by the command of the Spirit, and when he heard him read the 
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah (§ 101. 2), he said to him: "Under- 
standest thou what thou readest ?" The eunuch answered : 
" How can I, except some man should guide me ?" and added, in 
reference to the prophetic passage which he had read : " I pray 
thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this ? of himself, or of some 
other man ?" Then Philip explained the passage and preached 
to him Jesus. In the mean time, they came to a certain water, 
and the eunuch said : "See, here is water; what doth hinder me 
to be baptized V 7 Philip answered : "If thou believest with all 
thy heart, thou mayest." The eunuch gladly confessed his faith : 
" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," and Philip bap- 
tized him. He went on his way rejoicing, but Philip was caught 
away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was found at Azotus : and 
passing through, he preached in all the cities, until he came to 
Cesarea, where he afterwards resided permanently (Acts 21 : 8.) 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 367 



§ 167. The Conversion of Paul. 

1. Paul, whose Jewish name was Saul, was born in the city 
of Tarsus in Cilicia. His parents, who were Jews of the tribe 
of Benjamin (2 Cor. 11 : 22; Phil. 3 : 5), but also enjoyed the 
privileges of Roman citizens (Acts 16 : 37; 22 : 25, &c), sent 
him at an early age to the school of the celebrated Gamaliel 
(Acts 22 : 3, § 164. 2), in Jerusalem, for the purpose of being 
educated as a scribe. He was also taught a mechanical trade, 
according to the custom of the times, namely, that of a tent- 
maker or weaver. (Acts 18 : 3.) He adopted the spirit of Pha- 
risaism with great decision and unquestionable sincerity, and 
defended with equal zeal both the truths which it inculcated and 
the excrescences and errors with which it was encumbered. He 
was thus naturally led to assume a hostile attitude with respect 
to Christianity. Thoroughly imbued with Pharisaic principles, 
he hated the new doctrine and its adherents with all the strength 
of his ardent disposition. He beheld the stoning of Stephen with 
exultation, and afterwards regarded no duty as more sacred than 
that of searching for the hated Christians and committing them 
to prison. His zeal extended beyond the limits of Jerusalem, 
and, furnished with authority by the high-priest, he proceeded to 
Damascus, for the purpose of directing his inquisitorial energy 
there also against the hated sect (A. D. 40). 

2. Acts 9 : 1, &c. (ch. 22 : 3, &c. ; 26 : 9, &c.) — But an arm 
that was stronger than his own, now arrested him. The cheer- 
fulness with which Stephen died, and the exalted feeling with 
which he prayed for his enemies, could certainly not have failed 
to produce an impression on a man like Paul, and fix a sting or 
goad in his soul which, in the Lord's hands, performed its hidden 
work. He may have thus been inwardly prepared for the won- 
derful event which awaited him, even while he gave full sway to 
his Pharisaic fanaticism. As he journeyed and came near Da- 
mascus, a light from heaven suddenly shone round about him, 
and he saw the Lord in the brightness of the glory of his 
heavenly majesty (9 : 27; 26 : 16; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15 : 8). 
Trembling and astonished, he fell to the earth, and heard a voice 



368 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

saying to him : '/Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? .... I 
am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick 
against the pricks (goads). " — "Lord," said he in great fear, 
"What wilt thou have me to do ?" The Lord informed him that 
he should ascertain all in Damascus. When he arose from the 
earth, he was blinded by the effulgence of the heavenly glory 
which his eyes had beheld (22 : 11), and was led by the hand of 
the men who journeyed with him; these had observed the light 
but seen no man, and heard a voice but not understood the words. 
His inward natural strength had departed, like the strength of 
his body, and his own light was extinguished. Thus he remained 
three days in Damascus, blind and helpless, and waited, with fast- 
ing and praying, for the things that should follow. A certain 
disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, had, in the mean time, 
been commissioned by the Lord to seek Paul, and when he ex- 
hibited hesitation, the Lord added : " Go thy way, for he is a 
chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and 
kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how 
great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Then Ananias 
went to Paul who had been prepared for this meeting by a vision, 
put his hands on him, and addressed him. Immediately there 
fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight 
forthwith, and arose, and was baptized (a. d. 40). 

3. Acts 9 : 20, &c. — Paul straightway preached Christ in the 
synagogues, that he is the Son of God ; but all that heard him 
were amazed, for they knew the purpose for which he had come 
to Damascus. But he increased the more in strength, and con- 
founded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is 
very Christ. During his abode in that city, where he remained 
three years, he took a journey to Arabia (Gal. 1 : 17), undoubt- 
edly for the purpose of laboring in behalf of the Gospel. The 
Jews of Damascus, who regarded him with deadly hatred, at last 
took counsel to kill him. They watched the gates day and night 
in order to prevent his escape, but the disciples conducted him 
by night to the wall, and let him down in a basket; he reached 
Jerusalem in safety, — three years after his conversion (Gal. 1 : 
18, A. D., 43). The disciples in that city were unwilling to trust 
him, until Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 369 

And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus in Jeru- 
salem also. In consequence of new attempts which the Jews 
here also made to take his life, the brethren brought him down 
to Cesarea, and sent him forth thence to Tarsus. He abode fif- 
teen days only in Jerusalem; two apostles alone, Peter and 
James, were at that time in the city (Gal. 1 : 18, 19). 

Obs. — The conversion of Paul is one of the most glorious tri- 
umphs of Christianity ; it has, however, been since repeated, on a 
large and on a small scale, in countless cases. The divine seal of 
Christianity bears the inscription : " Of enemies, friends." Paul 
was chosen by the Lord to be the Apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11 : 
13 ; Gal. 1 : 16 ; § 162. 1, Obs.) ; his authority was equal to that of 
any of the twelve messengers sent to the tribes of Israel ; he " la- 
bored more abundantly than they all" (1 Cor. 15 : 10) — a richer 
blessing crowned his labors. In order to qualify him to be a witness 
of the resurrection of the Lord, like the other apostles, it was essen- 
tially necessary that the Lord should appear to him personally and 
bodily, and give .him a direct call, such as he had given to them 
(1 Cor. 15 : 5-8). Hence he ascribes so much importance to the 
fact that the Lord had appeared to him also (1 Cor. 9 : 1). 



§ 168. Peter 1 s Miracles in Lydda and Joppa. The Conversion 
of Cornelius. 

1. Acts 9 : 31, &c. — The churches throughout all Judea, 
Galilee and Samaria, enjoyed undisturbed peace during several 
years, and their external and internal growth was abundantly pro- 
moted by the divine blessing. — Peter undertook a journey at this 
time, the object of which was a general visitation of the churches. 
In Lydda, a city lying between Jerusalem and Joppa, he healed, 
in the name of Christ, a man named Eneas, who had kept his 
bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. In Joppa he re- 
stored a certain disciple to life, named Tabitha, (that is, gazelle) 
who had been distinguished, previous to her death, by her bene- 
volent acts. In consequence of the impression which these mira- 
cles produced, large additions were made to the Church in that 
region. But Peter tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon, 
a tanner. 



370 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Obs. — As the Gospel had already passed beyond the boundaries 
of Palestine (9 : 30 ; 11 : 19-21), and influenced increasing numbers 
of pagans who desired salvation, it became indispensably necessary 
to decide distinctly and positively the general question respecting 
the course which it would be proper to pursue with the Gentiles. 
The apostles had no doubts whatever, it is true, of the fact itself 
that the heathen world was also called to enter into the kingdom of 
God — the prophecies of the Old Testament and those of the Lord 
himself, plainly taught it; nevertheless, they still believed it to be 
necessary that the Gentiles should also be circumcised and assume 
the obligation of keeping the ritual law. They were constrained to 
adhere to this opinion by the numerous declarations which they 
found in the Old Testament respecting the perpetual validity of cir- 
cumcision and the ritual law, until they attained to a full and clear 
view of the meaning of Christ's words. (Matt. 5 : 17, 18, $ 133. 1.) 
Under these circumstances it was of the utmost importance that the 
decision of this question should proceed from an apostle of the Jews, 
and, specially, from Peter, the most prominent of their number, who 
was the founder of the original Jewish congregation in Jerusalem, 
and who had hitherto conscientiously believed that he was himself 
bound to observe the ritual law. 

2. Acts 10 : 1, &c. — Cornelius, the centurion or commander 
of an Italian cohort in Cesarea, had already become a proselyte 
of the gate, and was distinguished by a godly life and benevolent 
acts. As he was fasting and praying on a certain day, an angel 
of God appeared to him in a vision, who directed him to send to 
Joppa for Peter, and added that the latter would tell him what 
he ought to do, inasmuch as his prayers and alms were come up 
for a memorial before God. It was, on the other hand, neces- 
sary that Peter also, the strict observer of the law, should be 
duly prepared for this extraordinary mission. As the messengers 
of Cornelius were approaching the city, Peter was upon the house- 
top, engaged in prayer. And he became very hungry; his sense 
of a certain bodily want furnished the occasion for receiving in- 
structions from God in a vision, and in a symbolic manner. 
Before the food was prepared for him, he fell into a trance, and 
saw heaven opened. A certain vessel descended like a great 
bheet knit at the four corners, filled with unclean animals of all 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 371 

kinds, and lie heard a voice, saying: " Rise, Peter; kill, and 
eat." But Peter said : " Not so, Lord ; for I have never eaten 
any thing that is common or unclean." The voice replied : 
"What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." This 
was done thrice, after which the vision passed away. While 
Peter was reflecting on this occurrence, the men whom Cornelius 
had sent, reached the house, and the Spirit said to him : " Arise 
.... and go with them, doubting nothing : for I have sent 
them." Cornelius had called together his kinsmen and near 
friends, and when Peter arrived, related to him all that had oc- 
curred. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said: "Of a truth 
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons : but in every 
nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
with him," — (that is, when God invites men to embrace the 
Christian religion, he does not regard any claims derived from 
external circumstances, such as Jewish descent, but regards the 
state of the heart.) Peter preached to them Jesus Christ, cru- 
cified and risen from the dead ; and while he was speaking, the 
Holy Ghost fell on all them who heard the word, so that they 
spoke with tongues and magnified God. Then Peter said to the 
brethren who had accompanied him, and who were Jews by 
birth : " Can any man forbid water, that these should not be bap- 
tized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ?" And 
he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. — 
When the tidings of this Baptism reached Jerusalem, certain 
zealots were offended, and reproached Peter for it, but after he 
explained all the circumstances to them, they held their peace, 
and glorified God, saying : " Then hath God also to the Gentiles 
granted repentance unto life." 

Obs. — That peculiar communication of the Spirit which in this 
case preceded Baptism, by no means rendered the latter superfluous, 
since it was essentially different from those operations of the Spirit 
which take place in Baptism. In the former case extraordinary gifts, 
particularly the gift of tongues, were bestowed, which were indeed 
more striking in appearance, but which are essentially far inferior in 
their kind to the gift of regeneration in Baptism. 



372 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 169. The Church in Antioch. — The Execution of James, and 
the Deliverance of Peter. 

1. Acts 11 : 19, &c. — The persecution which commenced with 
the stoning of Stephen, had scattered the seeds of the word as 
far as Phenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Those who fled preached 
the Word to none except to Jews ; a few Hellenists, however, 
who were among them, preached the Lord Jesus to the pagans 
in Antioch. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great 
number believed. When the mother-church in Jerusalem re- 
ceived tidings of these things, Barnabas was sent thither, a man 
full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. He beheld the gracious and 
glorious^ development of the new congregation with joy; after 
having exhorted all to remain steadfast in the faith, he proceeded 
to Tarsus, for the purpose of securing Paul's services for this new 
field of labor, and both continued the work an entire year in An- 
tioch. During this period, certain prophets came. to Antioch 
from Jerusalem, one of whom, named Agabus, announced, by the 
Spirit, that a severe famine would soon prevail extensively (which 
afterwards occurred during the reign of the emperor Claudius), 
and, in anticipation of it, instituted a collection in behalf of the 
poor brethren in Judea; the proceeds were conveyed by Paul 
and Barnabas to Jerusalem. (Acts 12 : 25, A. D. 45.) 

Obs. — After the occurrence of these events, Antioch occupied a 
very prominent position in the history of the development of Chris- 
tianity. Jerusalem had been constituted the centre of the operations 
of those who extended the Gospel among the Jews ; Antioch, in the 
same manner, became the central point of the diffusion of the Gospel 
among the Gentiles. The elements were here developod of that 
greater freedom of spirit which obtained a complete victory through 
the efforts of Paul ; here, too, the intellectual culture of paganism 
was first associated with Christianity, and the way was opened for 
the entire release of the latter from the fetters of the narrow-minded 
Judaism of the times. — It was, consequently, in Antioch that the 
disciples were first called " Christians ;" the name implied that a 
distinction existed between them and the Jews, and that they were 
independent of Judaism. 

2. Acts 12 : 1, &c. — After a period of repose which embraced 
eight years, a sanguinary persecution of the Christians was com- 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 373 

menced in the year 44 by Herod Agrippa I. (§ 116. 3), who 
was desirous of gaining the favor of the people by this proce- 
dure. He subjected many members of the church in Jerusalem 
to severe trials, and beheaded James the greater (or, the elder), 
the brother of John. He imprisoned Peter also, intending to 
order his execution after the festival of the Passover had passed. 
But the angel of the Lord appeared to the apostle during the 
night which preceded the day appointed for his execution, a light 
filled the prison, and the chains by which he was bound to his 
two keepers fell off- from his hands. The angel conducted him 
past the two station's of the guards, through the iron gate, which 
opened of its own accord to them, and placed him in the street. 
It was then only that Peter perceived that he had not merely seen 
a vision, but had been actually delivered from prison. He im- 
mediately went to the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, 
in which many Christians were at that moment assembled and 
engaged in prayer. To these he described his miraculous deli- 
verance, and then left the city. The death of the king, which 
occurred soon afterwards, restored the peace of the Church. 

§170. Pan V s firs t Missio n a ry Journ ey. — Ba rn abas. 

1. Acts 13 : 1, &c. — After Paul and Barnabas had labored 
together a whole year in Antioch, they commenced (a. d. 45) an 
extensive missionary journey, according to the command of the 
Holy Ghost, the brethren having first prayed and laid their hands 
upon them. Barnabas took his nephew John Mark with him. 
After sailing to Cyprus (in which island Barnabas was born), and 
reaching Paphos, the chief city, Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, 
desired to see them and hear the word of God; he was -one of 
those meditative pagans, who eagerly listened to every new doc- 
trine which claimed a divine origin. (§ 120. 1.) A Jewish sor- 
cerer was present, named Bar-jesus, who assumed the Arabic 
name Elymas (signifying a sage or magian) ; this man withstood 
them, and attempted to turn away the proconsul from the faith. 
When the proconsul saw that the sorcerer was struck blind, after 
Paul had sternly rebuked him, he was convinced by this sign of 
the truth of the apostle's doctrine, and believed in the Lord. — 

32 



374 REDEMPTION AND SAL VAT I ON. 

Thence they proceeded to Asia Minor. At Perga, in Pamphylia, 
Mark left them, and returned to Jerusalem. 

2. Acts 13 : 14> &c. — Paul and Barnabas now went to another 
city called Antioeh, situated in Pisidia, and visited the synagogue 
on the sabbath-day. In compliance with the request of the rulers 
that they should speak if they had any word of exhortation, Paul 
arose and addressed the people. He commenced by referring to 
the divine election of Israel, and showed that in Jesus Christ, 
the son of David, whom the Jews of Jerusalem had slain, but 
whom God had raised from the dead, the promised salvation had 
appeared to the world. The discourse made a favorable impres- 
sion, and Paul was solicited to set forth the same doctrine with 
fuller explanations on the next sabbath; for the Gentiles in par- 
ticular, who were present, had been very deeply impressed. — 
During the intervening week, the apostles found many oppor- 
tunities for giving further instructions, and when the next 
sabbath-day arrived, almost the whole city came together to hear 
the word of God. This circumstance, however, excited the envy 
of the Jews ; they interrupted and contradicted Paul, and blas- 
phemed. Then the apostles uttered the bold and decisive words 
aloud : "It was necessary that the word of God should first have 
been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge 
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gen- 
tiles" When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad; and the 
word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But 
the Jews excited a tumult, persecuted Paul and Barnabas, and 
succeeded in expelling them from the city. 

3. Acts 14 : 1, &c. — They next visited a city in Lycaonia, 
named Iconium, and preached in the synagogue. A great multi- 
tude, both of the Jews, and also of the Greeks, believed, and the 
Lord gave testimony to the word of his grace by signs and won- 
ders. The unbelieving people here also assailed the apostles, and 
attempted to stone them, but the latter fled to Lystra. A mira- 
cle which Paul performed in this city on a man who had been a 
cripple from his birth, produced such a sensation, that the pagan 
inhabitants proclaimed him and Barnabas as gods (Mercury and 
Jupiter). The priest of Jupiter, followed by the people, was al- 
ready bringing oxen and garlands, with the intention of offering 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 375 

sacrifice to them j when the apostles were made aware of these 
proceedings, they rent their clothes, ran in among the people, 
compelled them to desist, and directed their attention from their 
false gods to the living God, who made heaven and earth. They 
declared that although in times past God had suffered all nations 
to walk in their own ways, he had not left himself without wit- 
ness, in that he did good, and gave rain from heaven, and fruit- 
ful seasons. — But certain Jews soon afterwards arrived from An- 
tioch and Iconium who succeeded in producing such bitterness of 
feeling among the people, that they stoned Paul and drew him 
out of the city, supposing he had been dead. However, as the 
disciples stood around him, he arose and went into the city. — The 
next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe, where they also 
established a congregation. — They subsequently returned to 
Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, confirmed the souls of the disci- 
ples in the faith, and ordained elders in every church. After 
travelling through Pisidia and Pamphylia, they sailed to Antioch 
in Syria, whence they had originally departed, and reached the 
city in the year 48. 

§ 171. The Apostolic Council of Jerusalem. 

Acts 15 : 1, &c. (Gal. 2 : 1-10.) — Paul and Barnabas were 
again actively employed in Antioch, when, after a considerable 
time, certain Pharisaic zealots, who had embraced Christianity, 
came thither from Jerusalem, and denied that the Gentile con- 
verts could be saved without being circumcised. The two apos- 
tles had no small dissension with them, and the congregation 
ultimately resolved to send their most eminent teachers to Jeru- 
salem for the purpose of conferring with the apostles and elders 
in that city, and of deciding this unhappy dispute. Paul and 
Barnabas accordingly proceeded to Jerusalem about the year 50. 
Here too they were violently opposed by certain believers who 
had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees. Then Peter arose, 
and declared, with great decision and energy, that God himself 
had already decided this question. James, who possessed great 
influence, in consequence of his strict observance of the law, 
fully coincided in sentiment with Peter, but added that it would 



376 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

have a conciliating influence on the minds of the Jewish con 
verts, if the Gentile converts should be required to observe the 
Noachian precepts respecting abstinence from pollutions of idols, 
from fornication, and from things strangled as well as from blood 
used as food. His opinion was unanimously adopted. The apos- 
tles communicated this apostolic decision to the church in An- 
tioch in a letter which was conveyed by Paul and Barnabas, who 
were accompanied by two messengers from the church in Jeru- 
salem, named Judas Barsabas and Silas. By these measures 
harmony was restored. — Silas derived so much pleasure from his 
visit that he remained in Antioch after the departure of the other 
messenger. 

Obs. — After this period, the above-mentioned James, who is styled 
the Just, and is usually designated as the Lord's brother (Gal. 1 : 19 ; 
James 1:1), appears to have presided over the congregation in Jeru- 
salem (g 177), probably because the missionary labors of Peter and 
John compelled them to be absent from that city during long periods 
of time. ; — The question here arises, whether this James is identical 
with the apostle James the son of Alpheus, or is a different person, 
in which case three men of the name of James occur in the New 
Testament, — the apostle James the elder or greater, the brother of 
John, — the apostle James the less (Mark 15 : 40), the son of Al- 
pheus, — and James the just, the Lord's brother, who presided over 
the congregation in Jerusalem. The answer to this very difficult 
and complicated question depends more immediately on the decision 
of another point, namely: Whether the four brethren of Jesus men- 
tioned in Matt. 13 : 55, and Mark 6 : 3 (James, Joses, Simon, and 
Judas), were literally the brethren of Jesus (children of Mary his 
mother), or only his brethren in a wider sense of the word, that is, 
his cousins, the children of his mother's sister, as they seem to be, 
according to Matt. 27 : 56 ; Mark 15 : 40, and Jude's Epistle, verse 1, 
compared with John 19 : 25, and Matt. 10 : 3, — (Alpheus being equi- 
valent to the name Cleopas). This view is, on the other hand, ren- 
dered less probable by the circumstance that, according to John 
7 : 5, the brethren of Jesus did not yet believe in him at the time 
when James the son of Alpheus was already one of the twelve dis- 
ciples. Besides the passages already adduced, it is necessary to con- 
sult Gal. 1 : 19 ; James 1:1; and Acts 1 : 13, 14 also, when the 
attempt is made to answer this question. — In this case, it is scarcely 
possible that any conclusions can ever be reached which will be per- 
fectly satisfactory. Still, those considerations seem to preponderate 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 377 

which are advanced in favor of the proposed distinction between the 
apostle James and that James who presided over the congregation in 
Jerusalem. If this conclusion is adopted, the latter was one of the 
Lord's brethren (Matt. 13 : 55), who long refused to believe accord- 
ing to John 7 : 5, but whose sentiments underwent an entire change 
after the resurrection of Christ. (Acts 1 : 14.) In that case, the 
most important representative of the Jewish converts to Christianity, 
iike the most important representative of the Pagan converts (Paul), 
did not belong to the original company of the twelve disciples— both 
were conducted from unbelief to faith by the grace and the calling 
of God. — It may be added, that this distinction which is made be- 
tween the two men who are both called James, is supported by the 
circumstance that he who presided in Jerusalem never withdrew 
from that city. Now if he had been an apostle in the proper sense 
of that term, he would have failed to fulfil the duties of his office, 
and have acted in opposition to the express command of the Lord; 
"Go ye, and teach all nations." (Matt. 28 : 19.) If then it could 
not have been ordered that any one of the twelve disciples should 
preside permanently over the congregation in Jerusalem, no other 
person could have been better adapted to occupy that position, than 
James the Lord's brother ; he was specially qualified by the peculiar 
tendencies of his mind and his whole character, to fulfil the duties 
of such an important office, and the congregation in Jerusalem was 
less disposed than any other to undervalue his near relationship to 
the Lord according to the flesh. 

§ 172. Paul's second Missionary Journey. — Pliilippi. 

1. Acts 15 : 36, &c. — After some time (in the year 50), Paul 
proposed to Barnabas that they should undertake a second mis- 
sionary journey together. They separated, however, before the 
journey was commenced, as Paul would not consent that Mark, 
who had abandoned them during the first journey, should accom- 
pany them on the second occasion. Barnabas and Mark sailed to 
Cyprus, and Paul, accompanied by Silas (or Silvanus) and Luke, 
the author of the Acts of the Apostles, went through Syria to 
Asia Minor, confirming the churches. On reaching . Lystra, he 
added Timothy to the company. The latter was a young man, 
distinguished not only by his talents but also by his unfeigned 
faith ) he had been instructed in religion in his childhood already, 
32* 



378 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 

by his mother Eunice, and his grand-mother Lois (2 Tim. 1:5; 
3 : 15). It was Paul's intention to confine his labors to Asia 
Minor, and he accordingly travelled through Phrygia, Galatia, 
Bithynia and Mysia; but the Spirit of God chose a more exten- 
sive field of labor for him. In the night a man of Macedonia 
stood before him in a vision, who entreated him, saying : "Come 
over into Macedonia, and help us." Paul perceived a distinct 
call of the Lord in these words, and, leaving Troas, he imme- 
diately sailed for Europe. 

2. Acts 16 : 12. — When he arrived at Philippi, a city of Ma- 
cedonia enjoying distinguished privileges, he addressed on the 
sabbath certain women who were assembled in a place (joroseucha) 
where prayer was wont to be made. Among these was a pros- 
elyte from the city of Thyatira, named Lydia, a seller of purple. 
After she and her family had been baptized, her house was made 
the central point of the congregation which the apostle com- 
menced to form. A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of 
divination Qtvsvpa Uv^avog), having continually followed him with 
demoniac praises, he expelled the spirit, in the name of Jesus 
Christ. The masters of the damsel, to whom she had hitherto 
been a source of profit, were filled with anger and seized Paul and 
Silas. In consequence of the commotion which occurred, the 
magistrates commanded the latter to be severely beaten as dis- 
turbers of the peace, and cast them into the inner prison. In 
the night, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises 
to God, there was suddenly a great earthquake, all the doors of 
the prison were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. The 
keeper of the prison supposed that the prisoners had escaped, 
and in his despair resolved to kill himself, but was prevented by 
a loud exclamation of Paul. Then he sprang in, and came trem- 
bling, and, falling down before Paul and Silas, he said : " Sirs, 
what must I do to be saved V They answered : " Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." 
Then they gave further instructions to him, and to all that were 
in his house, and he and all his were straightway baptized. On 
the next morning Paul secured an honorable release from prison 
by firmly asserting his rights as a Roman citizen. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 879 



§ 173. Continuation. — Thessalonica. — Berea. — Athens. 

1. Acts 17 : 1, &c. — After leaving Philippi, they went to 
Thessalonica, in which city Paul preached three sabbath-days in 
the synagogue. The result was the establishment of a congrega- 
tion, consisting principally of Greeks. The unbelieving Jews 
excited a tumult, assaulted Jason, who had received the apostles 
as his guests, and compelled them to leave the city. Paul and 
Silas now visited Berea, and preached in the Synagogue. The 
Jews did not oppose them in the beginning, but received the 
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures 
daily, whether those things were so. A congregation, consisting 
of both Jews and Greeks, was soon founded. But the Jews of 
Thessalonica came thither, stirred up the people, and again con- 
strained Paul to withdraw. Silas and Timothy remained a short 
period, but Paul was conducted by the brethren to Athens. 

2. Acts 17 : 16, &c. — In this city, the central point of pagan 
wisdom and religion, Paul preached daily in the synagogue and 
in the market. He attracted so much attention that he was con- 
ducted to Areopagus (hill of Mars), in order that he might set 
forth his new doctrine in that place. For all the Athenians and 
strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but 
either to tell, or to hear some new thing. He had seen an altar, 
as he was passing through the city, bearing this inscription : 
" To the unknown God" (ayvuata ^f$). He commenced his 
address with an allusion to this circumstance, and then introduced 
the following points : — That he now declared to them that God 
whom they had sought in vain at that altar, the only and the true 
God, the Lord of heaven and earth; that He had made of one 
blood all nations of men, to dwell upon the face of the whole 
earth, and had already ordained to each the appointed times and 
the bounds of their habitation ; that he had assigned to paganism 
the task of seeking him, if haply they might feel after him and 
find him, though he be not far from every one of them; that in 
him we live and move and have our being, or, as their own poets 
had said, " for we are also his offspring" (tov yap xai yivog iopev, 
Cleanthes and Aratus) ; that God had overlooked the times of 



380 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

this ignorance, but now commanded all men every where to re- 
pent, because he had appointed a day in which he would judge 
the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, whom he had raised 

from the dead . Here Paul was interrupted; when he spoke 

of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said : 
" We will hear thee again of this matter." Nevertheless, there 
were some, including Dionysius, a member of the court of Are- 
opagus, and a matron named Damaris, whose minds were decided, 
and who embraced the Christian faith. 



§ 174. Continuation. — Corinth. — The Return to Antioch. — - 
{The Epistles to the Thessalonians.') 

1. Acts 18 : 1, &c. — Paul departed in the year 52 from 
Athens and came to Corinth, a wealthy and flourishing commer- 
cial city, in which science was successfully cultivated, but which 
was also notorious for its licentiousness. He was kindly received 
by Aquila, who practised the same trade which Paul had learned 
(§ 167. 1). Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were Israelites, 
were born in Pontus, but had recently come from Rome, having 
been banished from that city with all the other Jews by the em- 
peror Claudius. Here, too, Silas and Timothy rejoined Paul. 
The latter commenced to preach with great zeal in the synagogue, 
and his work was successful. Many Greeks believed, as well as 
many Jews, among whom appeared Crispus, the chief ruler of 
the synagogue, together with all his house. "When the other 
Jews violently opposed Paul, the latter shook his raiment, and 
said : " Your blood be upon your own heads : I am clean. From 
henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." He afterwards taught 
in the house of a proselyte named Justus. The congregation 
continually increased in number, and Paul was strengthened by a 
cheering vision, in which the Lord assured him of his divine 
protection, and informed him that He had much people in the 
city. The Jews at length arose with one accord against Paul and 
accused him of having perverted the Law : the proconsul Gallio 
(a brother of Seneca the philosopher), would not, however, listen 
to their complaints, but drove them from his presence. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 381 

Obs. — During Paul's stay of eighteen* months in Corinth, he wrote 
his two Epistles to the Thessalonians. He had sent Timothy from 
Berea to Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3 : 1, &c), and received from him, 
on his return, the most joyful tidings respecting the state of the con- 
gregation in that city. As the members were, however, exposed in 
that large commercial city to corruptions of morals, and were also 
liable to corruptions of doctrine respecting the second coming of the 
Lord, he wrote the First Epistle for the purpose of preserving them 
from violations of duty and of strengthening them in the faith. Be- 
fore he left Corinth he again received tidings from them. Certain 
deceivers had attempted to derive advantage from the somewhat 
indiscreet expectations of the believers respecting the speedy coming 
of the Lord. He therefore explained clearly and impressively, in his 
Second Epistle, the doctrine of the coming of the day of the Lord, 
and revealed the fact that the appearance of Antichrist would pre- 
cede the coming of the Lord. 

Acts 18 : 18, &c; Gal. 2 : 1-14.— Paul departed from Co- 
rinth in the year 54, after having, through the divine blessing, 
labored in that city with eminent success. Before he went to 
Asia Minor, he fulfilled a certain Nazaritic vow (§ 52. A) which 
his grateful heart had impelled him to make. Priscilla and 
Aquila accompanied him to Ephesus. The Jews of this city 
received him kindly, and solicited him to tarry with them, but 
Paul would not consent, as he desired, in consequence of his vow, 
to reach Jerusalem before the occurrence of the feast of Pente- 
cost ; another inducement to proceed was furnished by a special 
revelation which he had received. (Gal. 2:2.) Barnabas and 
Titus accompanied him to Jerusalem On his arrival, which 
occurred fourteen years after his conversion (Gal. 2 : 1), he 
availed himself of the opportunity to satisfy the minds of the 
apostles Peter, John and James, respecting the position which he 
assumed and the commission which he had received as the apostle 
of the Gentiles ; for certain false brethren in Jerusalem had 
grossly misrepresented his course. He fearlessly vindicated his 
claim to be regarded as an apostle, and it was cordially recognized 
by James, John and Peter. They gave the right hands of fel- 
lowship to him and Barnabas, and arranged that the two latter 
should preach to the heathen, and they themselves to the Jews. 
To the single condition which they proposed, namely, that aid 



382 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

should be obtained for the poor of the mother-church in Jeru- 
salem, Paul cheerfully assented. — He went thence to Antioch. 
Peter also came to that city, and did not scruple, at the begin- 
ning, to eat with the Gentile Christians ; but after the arrival 
from Jerusalem of certain narrow-minded Jewish Christians, 
through fear of them, he discontinued entirely his intercourse 
with the former ; his example led the other Jewish Christians of 
Antioch astray, and even Barnabas did not remain steadfast, but 
was guilty of the same dissimulation. Then Paul stood forth 
boldly, and openly rebuked Peter on account of his fear of men, 
and his want of firmness. We are not informed of the manner 
in which Peter received the rebuke, but it may be confidently 
assumed that he humbly confessed the error which he had com- 
mitted, and that he afterwards adopted a different course. 

3. Acts 18 : 24, &c. — Aquila and Priscilla had, in the mean 
time, returned from Ephesus to Corinth, accompanied by a Jew 
of Alexandria, named Apollos, who believed that Jesus was the 
Messiah, but knew only the baptism of John ; he was, therefore, 
one of those who had believed before the outpouring of the Spirit 
on the day of Pentecost, but who were not yet acquainted with 
the succeeding events. As he combined great eloquence with a 
very accurate knowledge of the scriptures, and taught with great 
zeal and earnestness the way of the Lord, as far as he understood 
it, Aquila and Priscilla associated him with themselves, and com- 
municated to him a more perfect knowledge of Christian truth. 
He was then qualified to continue at Corinth the work which 
Paul had commenced, convincing the Jews publicly and with 
great power, and showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the 
Christ or Messiah. 

§ 175. PauVs third Missionary Journey. — Ephesus. — {The 
Epistles — to the Galatians — to Timothy (the First) — to the 
Corinthians (the First) ; and — to Titus.) 

1. Acts 19 : 1, &c. — Paul did not continue long in Antioch, 
on this occasion, but was constrained by the love of Christ to 
labor in other parts of his vast field. He commenced his third 
great apostolic journey in the year 54 or 55, accompanied by 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 383 

Luke, Titus and Timothy. After passing through Galatia and 
Phrygia, he came to Ephesus. Here he found twelve disciples, 
who had, like Apollos, received only John's baptism, and who 
possessed no knowledge respecting the outpouring of the Holy 
Ghost. When he baptized them in the name of Jesus, and laid 
his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them. He 
preached regularly for the space of three months in the syna- 
gogue, without being disturbed. At length he encountered the 
opposition of the Jews, which induced him to retire to the school 
or hall of a Greek philosopher named Tyrannus, where he 
preached the Gospel two years longer. In this manner he not 
only established a large congregation in Ephesus, but, occupying 
the city as a central point, also exercised a most blessed influence 
on large portions of Asia Minor. God confirmed his doctrine 
by working special miracles by his hands, insomuch that diseases 
were healed and evil spirits driven out, when any of his garments 
were brought to the afflicted. These surprising results induced 
seven Jewish exorcists, the sons of a distinguished priest named 
Sceva, to repeat the names of Jesus and Paul when they at- 
tempted to exorcise a possessed person. But the evil spirit, in 
place of yielding, prevailed against them, and compelled them to 
flee. Then great fear fell on all, both Jews and Greeks, and 
many who had practised magic arts abandoned these entirely, 
and burned their costly magic books. 

Obs. — The Ephesian magical books (ypdfifxara ate£itydp/naxa ; E$£tfta) 
were held in special esteem, and their pecuniary value was very 
great. Thus, those that were burnt in the present case, were esti- 
mated to be worth 50,000 drachmae, or 10,000 [German] dollars.* 

2. Acts 19 : 21, &c. — In the mean time Paul had made pre- 
parations to travel to Macedonia and Achaia, and had already 
sent Timothy before him, when he and the church in Ephesus 
were suddenly involved in great danger. A silver-smith of the 
city, named Demetrius, who derived large profits from the busi- 
ly* " The whole cost thus sacrificed and surrendered amounted to as 
much as two thousand pounds of English money." Conybeare and 
Howson : Life and Epistles of St. Paul, London, 1854. Vol. II., p. 17. 
— Tr.] 



884 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ness of supplying different parts of Asia Minor with small silver 
models of the celebrated temple of Diana, had perceived that 
Paul's success materially diminished the sale of these articles. 
He called together all who were engaged in the same business, 
and with their aid, instigated the people to seize Paul, as a blas- 
phemer of their great goddess Diana. All rushed madly through 
the streets of the city; some of Paul's companions in travel were 
violently assailed, and all the people cried, about the space of two 
hours : " Great is Diana of the Ephesians." It was only with 
great difficulty, and after exercising much discretion that one of 
the city officers could appease the excited multitude. Paul, who 
had been withdrawn from the tumult by his friends, immediately 
departed on his proposed journey to Macedonia. 

Obs. — During Paul's residence in Ephesus, which continued 
nearly three years, he wrote several of the Epistles. — I. The Epistle 
to the Galatians. He had established a number of congregations in 
Galatia during his second missionary journey, and visited and con- 
firmed them in the faith during the third journey. Soon afterwards, 
certain Judaizing and false teachers entered these congregations, 
who questioned the apostolic character of Paul, taught that Justifi- 
cation before God was founded on the observance of the entire ritual 
law, and really succeeded in persuading several Gentile Christians 
to receive circumcision. While the apostle abode in Ephesus he re- 
ceived these sad tidings, in consequence of which he wrote this 
Epistle ; he expresses the most tender interest in their welfare, as 
well as the deep sorrow which he felt, and earnestly labors to re- 
place the misguided believers on the true foundation of salvation. 
He appeals to the cordial approbation of his principles expressed by 
the apostles in Jerusalem, and shows that while the law was a school- 
master that brings to Christ, our Justification before God is obtained 
solely by faith in Christ. — II. The First Epistle to Timothy (the first 
of the " Pastoral Epistles, " by which appellation the two epistles, 
addressed to Timothy, and the epistle to Titus, are known). While 
Paul resided in Ephesus, he probably made a rapid journey, which 
did not consume much time and is not mentioned in the Acts of the 
Apostles, to Macedonia (1 Tim. 1 : 3), Achaia and Crete (Candia), 
in which island Titus remained by his directions. (Tit. 1 : 5.) Before 
he left Macedonia he. wrote the First Epistle to Timothy, directed to 
Ephesus, and containing exhortations and instructions relative to the 
pastoral duties of the latter. After his return to Ephesus, he wrote 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 885 

— Ill, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (an earlier letter 'which he 
had written to them, 1 Cor. 5 : 9, has not been preserved). — The es- 
tablishment of the congregation in Corinth is noticed in § 174. 1. — 
Apollos labored as a teacher in the city ; certain false and Judaizing 
teachers now also appeared, who professed to hold Peter's doctrines. 
Thus three parties were formed in the congregation, each earnestly 
opposing the others, and named respectively after Paul, Apollos and 
Peter. The adherents of the first party abused their evangelical 
liberty and gave offence to their weaker brethren ; those of the 
second, attempted to convert the foolishness of the cross of Christ 
(1 Cor. 1 : 18-25) into the wisdom of the world, through the intro- 
duction of pagan philosophy ; those of the third, taught that the ob- 
servance of the ritual law was necessary to salvation. A fourth 
party was then formed, the founders of which, in their arrogance 
and pride, adopted the name of Christ as a party-name ; they formed 
a Gospel of their own, which, as they alleged, constituted the pure 
doctrine of Christ, but which robbed the fundamental doctrines of 
Christianity of their weight, and, among other errors, they doubtless 
denied the doctrine of the resurrection of the body also. Amid these 
contests, church discipline ceased to be exercised ; one of the mem- 
bers even committed incest with impunity, disturbances occurred at 
the religious assemblies, pride banished love, &c. — The painful 
tidings of these things reached Paul in Ephesus, and the mission of 
Timothy to Europe (1 Cor. 4 : 17; 16 : 10), was doubtless connected 
with them. Paul was, however, impelled by the circumstances to 
address the congregation in writing also. His epistle bears noble 
testimony to his eminent wisdom, his knowledge of the human heart, 
his tenderness of feeling and his uncompromising fidelity to his duty; 
it censures the party-spirit which the Corinthian Christians had dis- 
played, as well as their spiritual pride ; it urges them to excommu- 
nicate the incestuous person, rebukes them for instituting legal pro- 
ceedings before unbelieving judges, and warns them against licen- 
tiousness. It, further, presents the Christian view of marriage and 
kindred topics, as well as of meats offered to idols ; it proceeds to 
examine the abuses which had occurred in the religious assemblies 
of the Corinthians, introduces the subject of the Lord's Supper, and, 
while referring to the gifts of the Spirit, exposes the undue import- 
ance that had been ascribed to the gift of tongues, and explains that 
charity or Christian love is more precious than all other gifts. After 
a lucid and impressive exhibition of the doctrine of the resurrection 
of the dead, the epistle concludes with directions respecting a collec- 
tion for the benefit of the poor brethren in Palestine. — Before Paul 
33 



386 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

departed from Ephesus, it is probable that he also wrote — IV, the 
Epistle to Titus, directed to Crete, in which he furnishes the latter 
with special instructions respecting the discharge of the duties of 
his office. 



§ 17G. Continuation. — Paul's Labors in Europe, and his Re- 
turn to Jerusalem. — ( The Epistles — to the Corinthians (the 
Second); and — to the Romans'). 

1. Acts 20 : 1, &c. — Paul now visited the congregations in 
Macedonia, advanced as far as Illyricum (Rom. 15 : 19), abode, 
afterwards, three months in Greece, specially visiting Corinth, 
and then travelled through Macedonia to Asia Minor. 

Obs. — As Timothy's return with tidings concerning Corinth was 
delayed, Paul sent Titus to that city (2 Cor. 7 : 13, &c). The latter 
rejoined him in Macedonia, and conveyed to him the information for 
which he had long waited. The account which Titus gave was, in 
general, very favorable, and induced him to write the Second Epistle 
to the Corinthians. He advises them to restore the offender, who had 
repented after his excommunication, explains his reasons for writing 
with severity in his former epistle, and defends himself and his apos- 
tolic office against the various malicious accusations of his Judaizing 
opponents, whose bitterness of feeling had been increased by that 
epistle. He did not immediately proceed to Corinth, but, while he 
waited for information respecting the effect which the second epistle 
produced, travelled to Illyricum. He then passed three months in 
Corinth, during which time he wrote the Epistle to the Romans, which 
was conveyed to them by Phebe, a deaconess of the congregation in 
Cenchrea, who was travelling, to Rome (Rom. 16 : 1). The congre- 
gation in Rome had been previously established, probably without 
the personal agency of an apostle, in consequence of the active in- 
tercourse maintained between the provinces and the chief city of the 
empire (Acts 2 : 10; Rom. 16 : 3, 7). It consisted both of Jewish 
and of Gentile Christians. Paul was induced to write to this con- 
gregation, to which he was personally unknown, by their urgent 
want of thorough apostolical instructions, by the important fact that 
it was a congregation founded in the capital city itself, and by his 
apprehensions that disputes would arise there, as elsewhere, between 
the Jewish and Gentile members. These considerations naturally 
led the apostle to begin at the foundation and erect with special care 
the whole structure of Christian knowledge. Thus the Christian 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 387 

Church has acquired in this epistle, through the provision which the 
Holy Spirit mercifully made, an unspeakably precious treasure of 
the deepest and richest religious knowledge, and an eternally im- 
movable foundation of doctrine. Luther says, in his admirable 
Preface to it: "This Epistle constitutes the most eminent portion of 
the New Testament ; it is the Gospel in its most perfect purity. It 
well deserves that every Christian should not only commit it word 
for word to memory, but also daily resort to it as the daily bread of 
the soul. For it can never be read too often, never become too fre- 
quently the subject of our meditations ; the more faithfully it is 
studied, the more precious and delightful it is found to be." The 
Epistle consists of two parts : the didactic (embracing doctrinal in- 
structions, ch. 1 — 11) and the parenetic (embracing exhortations 
founded on the former, ch. 12, 13). The theme of the former, is the 
great fundamental truth of the Gospel, by which the world is over- 
come, namely : the Justification of the sinner before God by faith 
in Jesus Christ. The apostle shows that the Gentiles could not be- 
come righteous before God by their natural light, which they had 
turned into darkness, nor the Jews by the Law, which could only 
give a painful knowledge of sin. Since the fall of Adam, all men, 
Jews as well as Gentiles, are under sin, and subject to death, which 
is the wages of sin. But God, through free grace, provided an eternal 
redemption, and manifested it in his Son, Christ Jesus, the second 
Adam. The atoning and justifying power of this redemption is 
found in the sacrificial death of Christ, and its sanctifying and re- 
newing power in his resurrection ; this redemption is appropriated 
to man in faith, and thereby he becomes righteous without any merit 
or worthiness of his own, and is made a new creature, a child of 
God, an heir of eternal life and a joint-heir with Christ. The people 
of Israel, as a nation, had cast away this salvation, and can ascribe 
their own rejection, which will undergo a change only at a later 
period, to none but themselves ; the Gentiles accepted it, but are ex- 
horted not to indulge presumptuous feelings on account of the grace 
of God manifested to them. 

2. Acts 20 : 4, &c. — Paul remained seven days in Troas, 
where several of his companions had waited for him; in that city 
he restored a young man, named Eutychus, to life, who had 
fallen, while he was asleep, from the window of an upper chamber 
in which Paul was delivering a farewell address at night, and had 
been taken up dead. He next visited several islands of the 
Archipelago, namely, Lesbos, Chios, and Samos. After reaching 



388 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Miletus, he sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus, and 
addressed them in the most impressive and affecting manner; 
well aware that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem, he 
kneeled down and prayed with them for the last time, and then 
took leave of his weeping friends They accompanied him to 
the ship which waited to convey him and his companions to Ce- 
sarea. In this place, a certain prophet from Judea, named 
Agabus (§ 169. 1), informed him, by the symbolically significant 
act of binding his own hands and feet with Paul's girdle, that he 
would, as he had himself informed the Ephesian elders, be im- 
prisoned in Jerusalem. The brethren in vain besought him to 
abandon his purpose of proceeding to that city. " What mean 
ye to weep," he said, "and to break my heart? for I am ready 
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name 
of the Lord Jesus." Then they ceased to importune him, and 
said : " The will of the Lord be done I" 

§ 177. The Seizure and Confinement of Paul in Jerusalem. 

1. Acts 21 : 15, &c. —It was one of the purposes of PauPs 
journey to Jerusalem to convey thither the money intended for 
the poor, which, according to his promise (Gal. 2 : 10), he had 
collected in the more wealthy congregations in Asia Minor and 
Greece (Eom. 15 : 25 ; Acts 20 : 35). Immediately after his 
arrival in Jerusalem, he gave a detailed account to James and 
the assembled elders, of all that God had wrought among the 
Gentiles by his ministry. When they heard it, they glorified the 
Lord ; they did not, however, conceal from him the fact that the 
zealous Jewish Christians of the city entertained sentiments un- 
favorable to himself, and advised him to obviate any violent ex- 
pression of feeling on their part, by associating himself with four 
poor Jewish Christians who were at that time under a Nazaritic 
vow (§ 52. A.), and defraying for them the expenses attending 
their offerings. Paul readily assented to the proposal, as he by 
no means considered the ritual law to be an empty unmeaning 
form, and observed it himself as far as the nature of his office, 
as the apostle of the Gentiles, allowed. 

2. Acts 21 : 27, &c. — The seven days of the vow were nearly 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, 389 

ended, when certain Jews of Asia saw him in the temple, and at 
once excited the people against him, by exclaiming : " Men of 
Israel, help. This is the man that teacheth all men every where 
against the people and the law, and this place : and further, 
brought Greeks also into the temple ; and hath polluted this holy 
place. " The populace gathered together, drew Paul out of the 
temple, and intended to kill him ; but he was rescued from their 
violence by Lysias, the tribune of the Roman cohort, who com- 
manded him to be bound with chains and conducted into the 
castle. He permitted Paul, however, to stand on the stairs and 
speak to the multitude assembled before the building. The 
apostle employed the Hebrew language, and described his Pha- 
risaic education, his own zeal, at a former period, in persecuting 
the Christians, and the wonderful event which had occurred on 
the road to Damascus. The people listened in silence until he 
stated that he had been called to preach to the Gentiles, when, 
wildly excited, they cried : "Away with such a fellow from the 
earth ! It is not fit that he should live I" The tribune, who had 
not understood any thing that was said, then commanded Paul 
to be led away and scourged, for the purpose of compelling him 
to confess his supposed guilt, but recalled the order in alarm 
when Paul appealed to his rights as a Roman citizen. 

3. Acts 22 : 30, &c. — On the next day the tribune brought 
his prisoner before the Sanhedrin, in order that the nature of the 
charges made against him might be accurately ascertained. Paul 
perceived at once, from the violent collision which occurred be- 
tween himself and the high-priest Ananias, that no opportunity 
would there be given to vindicate himself calmly and in detail. 
He therefore availed himself of the division existing in the 
Council between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, by openly 
avowing his belief in the doctrine of the latter respecting the 
resurrection of the dead, which was established by the resurrec- 
tion of Christ, and which he had preached in every place. His 
words made an impression on the Pharisees, who at once espoused 
his cause. But as a violent discussion now arose among the niem- 
bers of the Council, the tribune commanded his soldiers to re- 
conduct Paul to the castle. In the following night the Lord 
appeared to him and said : " Be of good cheer, Paul : for as thou 

33 * 



390 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also 
at Rome." — Paul afterwards learned from his sister's son that 
forty Jews had bound themselves under a curse that they would 
not eat nor drink until they had killed him. He directed the 
young man to communicate the fact to the tribune, who deemed 
it expedient to send his prisoner the next night with a strong 
escort to Cesarea, and place him in the hands of Felix, the Ro- 
man procurator. 

§ 178. Paul hefore Felix, Festus and Agrippa. 

1. Acts 24 : 1, &c. — The high-priest was extremely anxious to 
obtain possession of the person of Paul. He accordingly went 
to Cesarea five days afterwards, accompanied by an orator or ad- 
vocate named Tertullus, and represented to the procurator that 
the decision of the case properly belonged to the Sanhedrin, 
within whose jurisdiction all affairs connected with the temple 
lay. Paul, on the contrary, gave him, in a brief but lucid address, 
a view of the true state of the question. Felix was convinced 
of his innocence, but, while he imposed no restrictions on the 
apostle's intercourse with his acquaintances, he retained him in 
confinement, with the expectation that Paul would purchase his 
release with money. That the apostle had made a deep impres- 
sion upon him is demonstrated by the fact that he often sent for 
him and conversed with him concerning the subject of faith in 
Christ; still his corrupt and worldly mind was not subdued. On 
one occasion when Drusilla (the daughter of Herod Agrippa I.), 
who had abandoned her former husband in order to marry Felix, 
was also present, Paul spoke to them with such impressiveness 
respecting righteouness, temperance [self-control, control of the 
appetites] and the future judgment, that Felix trembled, and 
said : " Go thy way for this time : when I have a convenient 
season, I will call for thee." — Thus two years passed away, at the 
expiration of which Felix was recalled, and Porcius Festus was 
appointed his successor. 

2. Acts 25 : 1, &c. — As Festus manifested an inclination to 
comply with the wishes of the Jews, by subjecting Paul to the 
authority of the Sanhedrin, the apostle was compelled to avail 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 391 

himself of the rights attached to his Roman citizenship, and to 
appeal to the emperor. This course defeated at once all the ma- 
chinations of the Jews. After some days, king Agrippa II. 
(§ 116. 3) came to Cesarea, accompanied by his sister Berenice, 
for the purpose of offering his congratulations to the new pro- 
curator. Festus related to him the transactions connected with 
Paul, and, as the king expressed a wish to hear the prisoner him- 
self, on the next day the latter was brought into the audience- 
chamber, and a formal examination was commenced before a large 
assembly. Paul described to the king all the inward changes 
through which he had passed, his Pharisaic education, his zeal in 
persecuting the Church, the miracle of his conversion, his mode 
of preaching to the Gentiles the atoning death and the resurrec- 
tion of the Lord, &c. But Festus exclaimed : " Paul, thou art 
beside thyself; much learning (thy rabbinic- Jewish learning) 
doth make thee mad." Paul replied : " I am not mad, most 
noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." 
He then turned to the king, to whom he addressed the direct 
question whether he believed the prophets who had foretold the 
sufferings and the resurrection of Christ. The king evaded the 
question by saying ironically: " Almost thou persuadest me to 
be a Christian." Both he and Festus, however, agreed that Paul 
had done nothing worthy of death or of bonds, and that he might 
have been set at liberty, if he had not already formally appealed 
to the emperor. 

§ 179. Paul's Imprisonment in Rome. — {The Epistles — to the 
Ephesians ; — to the Colossians ; — to Philemon; and — to the 
Philippians.) , 

1. Acts 27 : 1, &c. — On the first opportunity Festus sent the 
apostle and several other prisoners, with a military escort, to 
Home ; Paul was accompanied by Luke and, perhaps, by others 
of his companions. They first sailed in a merchant-ship to Lycia 
in Asia Minor. Thence they commenced a very dangerous 
voyage to Italy, at a late season of the year, contrary to the most 
positive warnings of Paul. The dangers in which they were 
subsequently involved, in consequence of the prevalence of a 



392 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

violent tempest, led all on board to abandon every hope of saving 
their lives. Paul alone remained firm. An angel of God ap- 
peared to him, and said : " Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought 
before Cesar : and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with 
thee." His encouraging words reassured the minds of those who 
surrounded him. At length the vessel stranded upon the island 
of Melita (Malta). All who had been in the vessel escaped with 
their lives, and were kindly received by the inhabitants. The 
latter saw a viper bite Paul as he was placing wood on the fire 
that had been kindled, and thence concluded that he was, doubt- 
less, a murderer, whom vengeance would not suffer to live. But 
when he shook off the venomous reptile into the fire, and sus- 
tained no injury (Mark 16 : 18), they changed their minds, and 
said that he was a god. The Roman governor of the island, 
whose name was Publius, lodged them courteously. His father, 
who was sick at that time, and others also who were diseased, 
were healed by the prayers of Paul. After remaining three 
months, he and his companions departed. When they landed at 
Puteoli, they met with Christian brethren, with whom they abode 
seven days. Before they reached Home, they were met on the 
way by brethren from that city who had heard of their approach. 
2. Acts 28 : 16, &c. — When Paul reached Rome, he was de- 
livered to the custody of the captain of the Imperial guard 
(Prcefectus Prcetorid) about the year 61. The latter allowed him, 
probably in consequence of a favorable report from the procu- 
rator, to dwell in his own hired house ; he was guarded by a sol- 
dier who did not interfere with his personal movements, nor 
prevent him from preaching. After some days, he called the 
chief of the Jews together; they listened to him with indiffer- 
ence, although some of them were converted. His trial was 
delayed for two years, during which period he preached the gospel 
with confidence and zeal, without being subjected to any restraint, 
and maintained an active correspondence with the congregations 
which he had established. 

Obs. — The Epistles to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to Phile 
mon and to the Philippians, were written at an early period of PauPs 
imprisonment; in all he represents himself as a prisoner; in the cne 
named last, he expresses the hope of an early release. (2 : 24.) — 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 393 

The Christians of proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief 
city, and particularly those who were connected with the congrega- 
tion in Colosse, were at that time exposed to serious dangers occa- 
sioned by the false doctrine of Judaizing teachers of a peculiar class. 
These men were decided enemies of the apostolic doctrine of Justi- 
fication by faith without the works of the law ; in its place they 
designed, in connection with a denial of the true deity of Christ, to 
substitute a humility that was framed by themselves, and a spiritu- 
ality of angels (that is, a holiness like that of the angels), a self- 
righteous asceticism, a spiritual pride founded on their supposed wis- 
dom, and a form of Judaism which was associated with theosophic 
dreams. These seductive and false doctrines are opposed by the 
apostle in the Epistles to the Ephesians, and to the Colossians, which 
were written nearly at the same time, and between the contents of 
which a close affinity exists. In the former, which was probably an 
encyclical letter, addressed to all the congregations of Gentile Chris- 
tians in Asia Minor, and not designed to be strictly polemical, Paul 
exhibits Christianity as the true divine wisdom that justifies and 
sanctifies man, unfolds the true view of the Church as the body of 
Christ, and presents a Christian table of duties, in which marriage 
appears as an image of the relation subsisting between Christ and 
the Church ; he closes with an exhortation in which he urges his 
readers to put on their spiritual armour as a protection against the 
assaults of the power of darkness. The other epistle is addressed to 
the congregation in Colosse, which had been, probably, established 
by Epaphras, a disciple of Paul (Col. 1:7); this teacher conveyed 
tidings respecting them to the apostle in Rome, where he was him- 
self seized and imprisoned. (Philem. ver. 23.) Paul shows in this 
Epistle that Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, the 
Creator of all things, the only Mediator between God and men, the 
Head of all spiritual creatures in this world and in the invisible 
world, and the source of all wisdom ; he also refers to the false doc- 
trines mentioned above, and expressly warns his readers against 
them. — The Epistle to Philemon, who was a Christian residing in 
Colosse, intercedes with him, in an exceedingly touching, delicate 
and tender manner, in favor of a slave, named Onesimus, who had 
fled, but who had met in Rome with the apostle, had been converted 
through his instrumentality, and was now sent back to his master 
These three letters were conveyed by Tychicus, a companion of Paul. 
— The Philippians, to whom Paul directed an Epistle also, had been 
distinguished, since their congregation had been founded, by an un- 
usual attachment to the apostle, to whom they had on former occa- 



394 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

sions sent pecuniary aid ; they had repeated the liberal act when 
Epaphroditus went to Rome. (2 Cor. 11 : 9 ; Phil. 4 : 15-18.) The 
latter fell sick, after reaching that city, and was in danger of death ; 
as great anxiety respecting his case prevailed among the Philippian 
Christians, the apostle sent him back as soon as he was sufficiently 
restored, and placed this Epistle in his hands, addressed to the con- 
gregation ; in it he exhorts the members to remain faithful to. Christ, 
and warns them against the increasing corruption introduced by the 
false doctrines of Judaizing teachers. ' 

§ 180. Continuation. — (The Epistles — to Timothy (the Second); 
and — to the Hebrews.) 

The situation of the apostle became more distressing, after the 
second year of his imprisonment had expired, in consequence, 
perhaps, of the arrival of his Jewish accusers, or of a change in 
the emperor's feelings respecting the Christians in general, which 
may have, in the mean time, occurred. Many, who bad hitherto 
been his friends, withdrew from him, like Demas, &c. (2 Tim. 
4 : 10, 14, 16.) When he was heard in his own defence on the 
first public occasion, in the presence of the emperor Nero (2 Tim. 
4 : 16, 17), all men forsook him; the final sentence was not, 
however, pronounced at that time. He soon afterwards wrote 
the Second Epistle to Timothy, in which he distinctly states his 
expectation of soon suffering the death of a martyr, and re- 
peatedly urges the latter to visit him speedily in Rome. (4 : 6-9, 
21.) It was probably at the beginning of the next year, a. d. 64, 
that the sentence of death was pronounced, and that he was be- 
headed. Soon afterwards, the horrible Neronian persecution of 
the Christians commenced in Rome, during the continuance of 
which Peter also was put to death. 

Obs. 1. — The opinion that Paul was released from prison after his 
confinement in Rome, that he then engaged in a fourth Missionary 
Journey, proceeding as far as Spain (Rom. 15 : 24), and that, at a 
later period, he was imprisoned a second time and then finally exe- 
cuted in the year 67, seems to be founded on erroneous views. 

Obs. 2. — A great diversity of opinions has always prevailed re- 
specting the name of the author of the Epistle to the Ilebreivs. The 
Oriental Christians, to whom the epistle had been originally directed, 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 395 

always regarded it unanimously as a production of the apostle Paul, 
■while, on the contrary, those of the West, from which region it had 
proceeded, doubted the correctness of this opinion. While the ex- 
traordinary depth of the thoughts and the lofty views of Judaism 
occurring in this epistle (which may, however, be termed a hortatory 
address rather than an epistle), seem to indicate the great apostle of 
the Gentiles as the author, this composition is obviously distinguished 
from the other Pauline writings by the beautiful vesture of its pure 
Greek style, and the finished structure of its periods, which are not 
interrupted by the bold and rapid transitions of thought occurring 
in those. It was probably written by a disciple of the apostle Paul 
— perhaps by Apollos or Barnabas. It is addressed to Jewish Chris- 
tians in Palestine or Asia Minor, who were exposed to the danger, 
in consequence of the pomp of the temple service which was still 
maintained, of apostatizing from Christianity and returning to 
Judaism. To these the writer shows that the Son of God, the bright- 
ness of the divine glory, and the Creator of the world, is eternally 
exalted above the angels, as well as above the mediator of the old 
covenant (Moses) ; he explains that the worship of the Old Testa- 
ment had merely a typical meaning ; and that its fulfilment through 
Christ, the eternal high-priest, after the manner of Melchisedec 
{I 25. 2, Obs.), occurred once only, because it possessed eternal va- 
lidity. 

§ 181. The later Labors of the other Apostles. — Peter. 

No reliable accounts of the later labors of the other apostles 
of the Lord are extant ; a few detached notices of the three most 
important disciples, Peter, John and James, are all that have 
been preserved. — Ancient traditions unanimously relate that 
Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome during the reign of Nero, by 
being crucified, as the Lord had announced to him. (John 21 : 
18, 19 — A. D. 64.) Of his labors during the interval between 
the apostolic Council (§ 171) and his death, with the exception 
of his visit to Antioch (Gal. 2 : 12, &c. § 174. 2), we have no 
certain information. But as his apostolic efforts extended over 
the whole of Palestine and Syria at the beginning already, we 
may confidently assume that his field of labor was continually en- 
larged. It appears from his first Epistle (5 : 13), that he labored 
during a certain period in Babylon. After the arrangement was 
made with Paul ; to which there is a reference in Gal. 2 : 9, 



396 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Peter probably went to the East, in order that he might not enter 
Paul's field of labor, and chose Babylon as the central point of 
his apostolic efforts. But when Paul's imprisonment deprived 
the congregations of Asia Minor of his services, Peter regarded 
it as a duty to direct an apostolic Epistle to the latter. Accord- 
ing to an ancient and credible account which has been preserved, 
he also visited Corinth during this period. Thence he proceeded 
to Rome. But the statement that he founded the Roman con- 
gregation, and (during 25 years) was its first Bishop, is merely 
a fable; he could not possibly have reached Rome before the 
year 63. 

Obs. — The First Epistle of Peter was written at Babylon, accord- . 
ing to 5 : 13, and transmitted to the Pauline congregations in Asia 
Minor, after they had been bereft of their spiritual father by his im- 
prisonment in Rome. It is a letter missive, full of that Spirit and 
that power which he exhibited after the day of Pentecost in Jerusa- 
lem. He had a two-fold purpose in preparing it ; he designed, on 
the one hand, to exhort these congregations, amid the persecutions 
which threatened them, to suffer with patience and firmness, and to 
strive to grow in holiness ; and, on the other, he designed, in view 
of the efforts of false and Judaizing teachers, to give the congrega- 
tions an assurance, as an apostle of the Jews himself, of the truth 
of the doctrine proclaimed by the apostle of the Gentiles ; hence 
frequent allusions to the Pauline Epistles occur. — The Second Epistle 
is directed to the same congregations, and was occasioned by the in- 
creased influence which these false teachers had acquired. It is a 
peculiarity of this Epistle that it teaches the doctrine of the changes 
which the heavens and the earth will undergo through fire at the 
coming of the day of the Lord. 

§ 182. Continuation. — John. 

After the congregations of Asia Minor had lost their founder 
and guide, John established himself in Ephesus. Soon after his 
arrival, however, and probably in the reign of Domitian (or, ac- 
cording to others, during the Neronian persecution in which Paul 
and Peter were put to death) he was banished to Patmos, one of 
the islands of the Greek Archipelago, where he received the 
Revelation which he soon afterwards committed to writing (Rev. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 397 

1:9). After his liberation, he returned to Ephesus, where he 
continued (about thirty years) to labor with paternal zeal for the 
welfare of the congregations of Asia Minor, until he died in* the 
reign of the emperor Trajan. To the circumstance that he com- 
posed his Gospel and Epistles at a late period of life, the com- 
paratively purer Greek style which he employs in these writings, 
may be ascribed. Several touching illustrations, belonging to 
this period, of his pastoral fidelity and zeal, have been recorded. 
He had entrusted a certain young man to the care of a bishop ; 
the youth was afterwards led astray by evil companions, and he 
finally became the terror of the whole region after having been 
chosen by a band of robbers as their captain. The aged apostle 
resolved to rescue him from destruction, went alone to the wild 
haunts of the robber, and persevered until he had restored him. 
In his extreme old age, when he no longer retained sufficient 
strength to preach, he directed himself to be carried to the reli- 
gious assemblies of the believers, and simply said, with a feeble 
voice : " Little children, love one another !" He also consistently 
exhibited in his conduct the earnestness and fidelity to truth 
which appear in his Epistles. He encountered the dangerous 
false teacher Cerinthus, on one occasion, at a bath • he instantly 
withdrew, unwilling to hold even such external fellowship with 
him (1 Cor. 5 : 11). 

Obs. — Tfie Revelation of John [the Apocalypse) constitutes the 
great stream of Prophecy, which is formed by the meeting of the 
various prophetic streams of the Old Testament, and which ulti- 
mately disembogues into the ocean of eternity. An ardent desire for 
the coming of the Lord, when all things will be perfected, is the 
key-note of the book. It sketches in lofty terms the development 
of the kingdom of God until its final and most glorious consumma- 
tion in eternal life occurs, and employs a sacred and symbolical im- 
agery, which, without impairing its edifying power in the Christian 
Church, retains many obscurities that nothing but the actual fulfil- 
ment can remove. (For the Gospel of John, which probably belongs 
to a somewhat earlier date than his Epistles, see § 184.) — The First 
Epistle of John, may have been a pastoral letter addressed to his 
congregations in Asia Minor ; it opposes false teachers similar to 
those to whom Paul refers in his epistle to the Colossians and in the 
34 



398 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

Pastoral Epistles. This production of John combines, in an extra* 
ordinary manner, a gentleness, a tenderness, and a depth of love 
that cannot be exceeded, with the utmost decision and earnestness, 
and an unbending severity of judgment. A perfect and entire com- 
munion with God in Christ, which finds obedience to be easy, and 
the commission of sin impossible, is the standard which he applies 
to the Christian life. — The Second Epistle is addressed to a matron 
named Cyria [translated " lady"], to whom the apostle expresses the 
joy which the holy walk of her sons gave him, and speaks of an in- 
tended visit to her. — The Tliird Epistle, to an eminent Christian, 
named Gaius, is probably a letter of recommendation given to certain 
travelling brethren. 

§ 183. Continuation. — James and Jude. 

James the Just, the brother of the Lord (§ 171. Obs.), who 
occupied a very prominent position at the apostolic Council, and 
presided over the congregation in Jerusalem (and whom Paul, 
Gal. 2 : 9, designates as a pillar of the Church, like Peter and 
John), is the author of the Epistle which bears his name. He 
is the true representative of the Judaico-Christian tendency of 
the church seen in its evangelical purity. By his conscientious- 
ness in the discharge of the duties of his office, as well as by his 
strict observance of the ritual law, he acquired the surname of 
the Just, and hence possessed the esteem of the Jews who revered 
the Law. But both his Epistle and his conduct testify alike 
to the essential unity of spirit in his own and in the Pauline ten- 
dency, although its external expression might assume in each 
case a different form. He had plainly perceived that his duty 
required him to devote himself to the work of extending and 
strengthening the Church among the people of the covenant, and 
he had accordingly chosen the ancient holy city as the permanent 
central point of his efforts. He, too, suffered martyrdom, and 
his own people inflicted it. The fanatical Jews, whose passions 
had been excited on the occasion of Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, 
demanded that he should stand on the pinnacle of the temple at 
the Passover and curse Christ; instead of complying, he con- 
fessed his faith with boldness and energy, in consequence of 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 399 

which lie was thrown down and stoned. — The writer of the 
Epistle of Jude designates himself as a brother of James (the 
Just). (See Matt. 13 : 55 ; Mark 6 : 3.) It is uncertain 
whether he is the same who is called Judas the brother of James 
in Luke 6 : 16. Nothing is known respecting his apostolic 
labors. 

Obs. — The Epistle of James, directed to Christian converts of the 
twelve tribes both within, and also without the bounds of Palestine, 
was written in consequence of various afflictions and temptations to 
which the Jewish Christians were exposed. That dead faith against 
which he warns with such energy, was the vain and false opinion, 
which was deeply rooted in the Judaism of the times, and which even 
converted Jews found it difficult to abandon, that the mere descent 
from Abraham secured for the Jews a superiority above the Gen- 
tiles, and that in view of the fact that the Jews confessed the God 
of Abraham, they could not fail to obtain salvation and justification 
before God. With this dead faith, which was destitute of the fruits 
of true sanctification, James contrasts the example of Abraham, in 
whose life the living fruits of faith appeared in such abundance, and 
whose works were precisely the seal of his justifying faith. When 
Paul says that man is justified by faith, without the works of the 
law, and James says that man is justified by works, and not by faith 
only (2 : 24), they by no means contradict each other. The con- 
nection in which their words occur shows, that the former commends 
that living faith, the evidences of which are furnished by the sancti- 
fication which succeeds it, while the latter commends the sanctifica- 
tion that proceeds from faith as the essential condition of salvation. 
And, further, Paul simply condemns that confidence which rests on 
the dead works of a deluded and carnal self-righteousness, while 
James condemns that idle confidence which rests on a dead external 
confession of the true God ; he maintains that it has no power, and 
that it is a hinderance to salvation. The short Epistle of Jude warns 
with great power against certain apostate, blaspheming and lasci- 
vious deceivers, whose sentence, as he shows, has been already typi- 
cally pronounced in the punitive judgments of the Old Testament. 
It presents many points of resemblance to the second Epistle of 
Peter, in its form and in its contents. It has not been satisfactorily 
shown to which of the two priority belongs, although the most 
weighty considerations which are advanced preponderate in favor 
of Peter's epistle. 



400 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 



§ 184. The Four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. 

Those who had personally seen the works of Christ, and heard 
his discourses, were gradually removed from the Church by 
death ; while these witnesses were disappearing, Christianity was 
constantly extending its borders. The want of writings was soon 
deeply felt, in which those accounts of the life of Christ which 
possessed apostolic authority might be accurately preserved, and 
her secured from corruptions. This was the origin of the Gospel 
of Matthew, who was himself an apostle and an eye-witness, of 
the Gospels of Mark and Luke, who wrote by the apostolic au- 
thority of Peter and Paul, and of the Acts of the Apostles, 
written by Luke as a continuation of the Gospels. Long after 
these three Gospels were written and circulated, John, the be- 
loved disciple of the Lord, was impelled to add a fourth. In 
this Gospel he bequeathed a most precious legacy to the Church, 
by enshrining in it that image of the Redeemer, which was in- 
delibly portrayed in the depths of his loving soul, and maintained 
in all its life and power by the quickening influence of the Holy 
Ghost. (John 14 : 26.) — These four Gospels (The Gospel accord- 
ing to Matthew, — Mark, &c), each of which adopts a peculiar 
mode of treatment, and selects different aspects in presenting the 
same exalted subject, form together only one Gospel. Therein 
the Church now finds an image of the Redeemer as faithfully 
described, and exhibited in as many varied positions, as the com- 
prehension of man can grasp — it constitutes the ground of our 
faith (1 Tim. 3 : 15, 16), the fountain whence our love proceeds 
(1 John 4 : 19), the example proposed for our imitation. ( 1 Pet. 
2 : 21.) — The narrative, on the other hand, entitled, The Acts 
of the Apostles, exhibits to us the operations of the Spirit of 
Christ, who guides into all truth; it furnishes, in the labors of the 
apostles, a model of pure evangelical preaching and pastoral 
fidelity, and affords, in the various circumstances of the primitive 
congregations, both examples that claim imitation, and also im- 
pressive warnings. 

Obs. — The general coincidence of form and contents in the first 
three Gospels is remarkable. Their general structure is the same, 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 401 

they usually record the same discourses and actions of the Lord in 
language which is very frequently 'word for word the same, and they 
have therefore not unaptly been termed the Synoptic Gospels. 
Nevertheless, each is also distinguished by a purpose and character 
peculiarly its own, by various additions and omissions of a greater 
or less extent, by a different mode of exhibiting and arranging the 
details, and even by occasional statements which seem at first to 
contradict those of the others. But all these striking peculiarities 
are explained in the most easy and simple manner, when due atten- 
tion is given to the circumstances of the apostolic age. The facts 
belonging to the evangelical history were promulgated for many 
years only in an oral manner; during this period, in which they were 
accordingly uttered by the mouth alone, a certain agreement or con- 
formity was undesignedly established in the statement and exhibi- 
tion of particular facts. The Evangelists naturally adopted this es- 
tablished form of the oral communications, when they committed 
the accounts to writing, and enriched the latter with additions 
derived from their own knowledge or investigations, and also adapted 
them to the peculiar object which they had in view or the wants 
which they designed to supply. The Evangelist John alone is an 
exception, since it was his special purpose to complete the former 
Gospels by additions derived from his own recollections, and finish 
the image of the Redeemer's Person and labors, by exhibiting the 
latter in still another and an essential point of view. — The apostle 
Matthew, of whose apostolic labors we possess no reliable accounts, 
was the first who wrote ; it is evidently the object of his Gospel to 
supply the wants of Jewish Christians. He describes the life of the 
Redeemer in its Messianic dignity and lowliness, and shows that the 
Law and the promises were fulfilled in him and through him. — 
Mark (whose Jewish name was John), a nephew of Barnabas, wrote 
his Gospel by the apostle Peter's authority. (1 Pet. 5 : 13.) When 
Barnabas separated from Paul ($ 172. 1), he accompanied the former 
on his missionary journey, but afterwards appears as a faithful as- 
sistant of Paul (Col. 4 : 10; Philem. ver. 24; 2 Tim. 4 : 11), and a 
companion of Peter. (1 Pet. 5 : 13.) The peculiarity of his Gospel, 
which, according to credible accounts, he wrote at Rome for Gentile 
Christians, consists not merely in the omission of extended dis- 
courses, but also in his graphic descriptions of facts with which many 
subordinate but characteristic incidents are interwoven ; hence he 
furnishes a succinct but an attractive and animated sketch of the 
actions of Jesus. — Luke, a physician according to Col. 4 : 14, the 
faithful companion and assistant of the apostle Paul, probably wrote 



402 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles during the two years of his 
residence in Rome, when Paul was imprisoned. (Acts 28 : 30.) Both 
of these compositions are dedicated to an eminent Roman, named 
Theophilus. (Luke 1:3; Acts 1 : 1.) He wrote his Gospel by the 
•authority of Paul, and the Pauline tendency was evidently his guide 
in the selection of the discourses and actions of Jesus which he re- 
cords. He is accordingly inclined to give special prominence to 
those portions of the evangelical history that pre-eminently illustrate 
the free grace of God which precedes the sinner's approach, excludes 
all human merit and calls and invites all alike to be saved. It is 
his purpose to present Jesus as the Saviour of sinners. — The fourth 
Gospel specially designs to describe the theanthropic personality of 
the Redeemer, the image of which was so distinctly beheld by John, 
and so deeply impressed on his soul. Hence he commences with the 
ante-mundane existence of Christ, who is the eternal, essential and 
personal Word of God (fcoyoS") ;„and.he records with special pleasure, 
both those discourses of his divine Master in which he himself bears 
witness of his Person and mission, and also those actions in which 
his glory is pre-eminently revealed, " the glory as of the only be- 
gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1 : 14. See 
John 20 : 31.) 



CHAPTER III. 

THE APPROPRIATION OF SALVATION IN THE CHURCH. 
§ 185. The Design and Character of this Period. 

1. Not only is the redemption of man now finished, but all 
the conditions also are set forth on which its appropriation 
depends. The atoning death of Christ offered satisfaction to 
eternal justice, and life and immortality were brought to light 
through his resurrection ; the Sacraments are instituted, the Holy 
Ghost, who guides into all truth, is poured out, the Church is 
established, and the Word of God recorded. It yet remains that 
this great salvation should be preached to all the nations of the 
world, and to all the individuals who compose them, and that 
they all, or as many as do not obstinately exclude themselves, 
should receive the remission of their sins and eternal life through 
a personal appropriation of- this salvation. Salvation is appointed 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 403 

like leaven (Matt. 13 : 33), to penetrate and imbue the entire 
mass of the human race, and sanctify and renew all the con- 
ditions and movements, and all the circumstances and relations 
of human life, whether they are the most elevated or the most 
lowly. Such is the design of the present period. 

2. The foundation of this work was unquestionably laid, and a 
commencement was made already, in the apostolic age. In so far 
succeeding times resembled, in the task assigned to them, and in 
their character, those of the apostles, and both constitute a single 
current flowing onward in the same channel. Still, they are dis- 
tinct and separate from each other, although their general task is 
the same. For, in the former case, namely, that of the apostolic 
age, the foundation and the vehicle of development consisted of 
the extraordinary gifts of grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit, 
especially, the immediate illumination from which the preaching 
of the apostles proceeded, and the gift to do signs and wonders, 
by which the efforts of the apostles were most effectually sus- 
tained and promoted. These gifts were necessary at that time. 
The word of God could not have been set forth except through 
an immediate illumination, and the preaching of the apostles 
could not have been adequately confirmed except by signs and 
wonders ; as the result of all, a deep and immovable foundation 
was laid for the Church of God. 

3. But the Holy Spirit operates in general, since the death of 
the apostles, exclusively through the ordinary Means of Grace, 
that is, the Word of God and the two Sacraments; and, indeed, 
the Church, firmly and immovably established on the rock of sal- 
vation, no longer needs those extraordinary gifts. The Church 
no longer finds it requisite that the preaching of the Word should 
be confirmed by external signs and wonders, for it is itself, in 
conjunction with that transformation of the world to which it has 
given rise, a miracle greater than all that were wrought by the 
apostles. It no longer needs an immediate illumination and in- 
fusion of strength, since it possesses an inexhaustible source of 
light and power in the Means of Grace. Miracles still occur as 
frequently as in the apostolic age, but they are transferred from 
the lower region of nature to the higher region of the inner life 
of the spirit, where their most appropriate and suitable sphere is 



404 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

found. The silent and hidden wonders of the sinner's illumina- 
tion, justification and sanctification (§ 193), — the wonderful 
leading and drawing of the Spirit — the gradual but sure pro- 
gress of the transformation and renewal of the world — the hear- 
ing of prayer (§ 187), and similar processes, are regarded by the 
eye of faith as greater miracles than the healing of the sick and 
the raising of the dead. Christianity is appointed to conquer by 
its own inward divine power; the world must be overcome by 
faith (1 John 5 : 4), and no one is now led to receive that great 
salvation by the controlling power of miracles, since all the means 
on which its appropriation depends have now been furnished. 

§ 186. The Means of Grace. — (The Word of God.) 

The fulfilment of the design of the present period is therefore 
inseparably connected with the operations of the Holy Spirit 
through the Means of Grace (the Word and the Sacraments), the 
administration of which is entrusted to the Church. The Word 
of God is the immutable foundation on which the preaching and 
the knowledge of salvation altogether depend. By the power of 
the Holy Spirit which operates in it, the sinner is called to re- 
pentance and brought to faith, justification is proclaimed to those 
who repent and seek salvation, and justified believers are con- 
ducted in the way of sanctification (§§ 192, 193). The same 
Spirit, by whom the Word of God was begotten in the spirit of 
the apostles and prophets (2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3 : 16 ; Matt. 
10 : 20; John 16 : 13; 1 Cor. 2 : 10-13), bears witness of it 
also in the spirit of every candid reader or hearer, so that it may 
accomplish the purpose for which it was sent (Isai. 55 : 10, 11 ; 
Heb. 4 : 12; Jer. 23 : 29; 2 Tim. 3 : 15-17; John 5 : 39). 
It is, accordingly, an inexhaustible source of comfort and peace, 
af encouragement and admonition, a guide to salvation, a rule 
of life adapted to all circumstances and conditions, to all ages of 
the world, and to every period of each individual's life. It is so 
deep that the most richly endowed mind cannot fathom it, and 
yet so plain and intelligible that those who are the poorest in 
spirit, can study and comprehend it — it is a " stream in which 
the elephant may swim, while the lamb may wade." It is the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 405 

allotted task of each century to discover new treasures of divine 
wisdom and knowledge in its depths, and deliver these to the 
Church 5 it is the office of the latter to employ them in develop- 
ing the Christian life of its members, and advancing the interests 
of the kingdom of God. 

Obs. 1. — The Word of God in the Old Testament was not only a 
means of grace for the congregation of the old covenant (Josh. 1:8; 
Isai. 55 : 10, 11), but remains the same for Christendom; as such, 
it is, by the directions of Christ (John 5 : 39) and the apostles (2 
Tim. 3 : 15-17 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 19), to be diligently and conscientiously 
employed. The circumstance, it is true, ought not to be overlooked, 
that the revelation of the Old Testament, although it is in itself as 
fully divine truth as that of the New Testament, nevertheless, 
belongs, on account of its educational and progressive character, to a 
lower stage of divine revelation, and is, accordingly, to be read and 
applied in the fulness of the light of the New Testament. But, on 
the other hand, in many other aspects of religious life, and specially, 
in the dangers, trials and sorrows of man, the Old Testament affords 
even more abundant materials adapted to edify than the New Testa- 
ment, and the remarks of Luther on the Psalms ($ 84. 2), apply, to 
a certain extent, to the other books of the Old Testament also. It 
conducts us to the school in which men are divinely educated for 
salvation ; and, as the human heart is, in all ages, equally fickle, and 
divine grace is always alike steadfast and true, the Old Testament 
places in the light of divine revelation for our advantage varied 
types of joys and sorrows, of struggles and temptations, and of 
victory and defeat, occurring in our own experience. 

Obs. 2. — The Canon of the New Testament (§ 111. Obs.), as it ia 
now recognized, was settled, and received the sanction of the Church 
at the Council of Hippo Regius (Africa), a. d. 393.* It comprises, 
1, Records referring to the original establishment of the new cove- 
nant — the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ; 2, A 
record of the history of the new covenant — the Acts of the Apos- 
tles ; 3, Records referring to the doctrine and religious life of the 
new covenant — the Epistles of the apostle Paul to the Romans, Co- 
rinthians (I, II), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thes- 
salonians (I, II), the pastoral Epistles to Timothy (I, II), and Titus, 
the Epistle to Philemon, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the general (cir- 
cular) Epistles of James, Peter (I, II), John (I, II, III) and Jude • 

■[* See the author's Church History — Handb. d. a. Kirchengescb. 
\ 131 and \ 255, 3d ed. Mitau, 1853. — Te.] 



406 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

4, A record of Prophecy in the new covenant — the Kevelation of 
John. The arrangement in the German Bible of the Epistles of 
Peter, John, James, Jude and the Epistle to the Hebrews, varies 
somewhat from the above. 

Obs. 3. — The Holy Scriptures unquestionably are, and always 
must remain, the only source and rule of all Christian knowledge ; 
we would, however, be governed by narrow-minded and false views, 
if we should regard any further development and expansion of scrip- 
tural doctrine as objectionable, or pronounce all that is not taught 
in the Scriptures in direct words, to be unchristian and unscriptural. 
The words of the Scriptures are spirit and life (John 6 : 63) ; they 
are living seeds of knowledge, suited and designed to bear fruit more 
and more abundantly and gloriously, under the superintendence of 
the same Spirit by whom they were sown. The Church, to the care 
of which the seed is entrusted, is also animated and directed by the 
Spirit. All that is set forth in the process of ecclesiastical develop- 
ment, and that, in place of being contrary to the Scriptures, can 
rather be demonstrated to be an organic unfolding of scriptural 
doctrine, is therefore, necessarily, also to be regarded as the teaching 
of the Spirit. But, on the other hand, all that is set forth in the 
later development of church-life and church- doctrine, and that con- 
tradicts the doctrine of the Scriptures, is not the work of the Spirit, 
but is the ungodly work of man, consists of traditions of men, and 
ought, therefore, to be at once rejected (Matt. 15 : 9). "Prove all 
things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5 : 21). 

§ 187. Continuation. — (Prayer.') 

God addresses us in his Word, reveals his will and counsel of 
salvation, and invites us to draw nigh with a submissive spirit; 
to that Word of God in the Holy Scriptures, the word of man, 
addressed to God in Prayer, corresponds ; prayer expresses man's 
readiness and ardent desire to receive divine grace. Prayer is, 
consequently, the answer which man gives, while he is drawing 
nigh to God who has drawn nigh to him — it is the union of the 
human will with the divine. It is, however, Christian Prayer 
alone, or Prayer offered in the name of Jesus and by the power 
of the Holy Ghost, that can claim the appellation and the full 
blessing of a means of grace. To pray in the name of Jesus is 
— not to pray in our own name, in dependence on our strength 
and our merit (Dan. 9 : 18), but — to pray in dependence on the 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 407 

redemption finished by him, to pray by his command, and as 
members of his body, so that our prayer appears as the prayer of 
Cnrist and possesses its power. Such a prayer cannot be offered 
except by the power of the Holy Ghost, who teaches and helps us 
to pray in this manner (Rom. 8 : 15, 26). Now when Prayer is 
founded on the merit of the Son, and sustained by the power of 
the Holy Ghost, it cannot fail to be heard by the Father (John 
14 : 13, 14 • 16 : 23), for such a prayer is precisely that which every 
prayer should be — a perfect union of the human will with the 
divine. It can, therefore, occasion no surprise, that the Holy 
Scriptures unconditionally promise that Christian prayer shall be 
heard, and assign to that faith of which it is the expression, a 
miraculous power derived from divine omnipotence (Mark 11 : 23, 
24 1 Matt. 17 : 20 j 21 : 21 ; Mark 9 : 23). 

Obs. 1. — The objection is unreasonable and absurd, that if God 
should answer us, and in consequence of our prayers adopt a course 
different from that which he would have otherwise chosen, he changes 
his counsel and ceases to be immutable. For our prayers, which 
God eternally foreknew, were already considered in his counsel, and 
it is on that account that prayer is often heard before it is pro- 
nounced (as in Dan. 9 : 23; Isai. 65 : 24). 

Obs. 2. — It is not less unreasonable to object that Prayer is super- 
fluous, since God already knows our wants before we ask him, 
(Matt. 6 : 8.) For we do not pray in order that God may thus be 
made acquainted with the desires of our hearts ; prayer is, more 
properly, the necessary and natural expression and action of our 
spiritual life. 

Obs.. 3. — The unconditional promise is given to true and genuine 
prayer, that it shall be heard ; if an answer is not given, the prayer 
either was not genuine (that is, made without faith, James 1 : 6, 7 ; 
4 : 3), or else, it only seems to be unanswered. For God often delays, 
in the inscrutable wisdom of his Providence, and does not grant an 
answer visibly, either for the purpose of trying our faith, or for 
reasons which we personally or the circumstances around us may 
have furnished ; and often, too, he really and immediately hears our 
prayers, when, in consequence of our short-sightedness or the low 
degree of our spiritual life, we do not see and perceive it, — he heard 
us, but not as we had expected or desired. 



408 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 188. Continuatian. — {The Sacraments in general.') 

The Sacraments were instituted by Christ for the purpose of 
enabling us through them to enter into the most intimate and es- 
sential communion of life with him, and of preserving and es- 
tablishing us therein. Two conditions belong not only to natural 
life, but also to the new life in Christ — birth and sustenance. 
There are, consequently, not more than two Sacraments : — 1. 
Baptism, the medium of the birth of the new life, and, 2, the 
Lord's Supper, the medium by which it is nourished and its 
growth is maintained ; it hence appears, at the same time, that the 
former is to be administered, in the case of the same individual, 
once only, and that the latter is of necessity to be repeatedly ad- 
ministered. The peculiarity of the Sacraments (as contradistin- 
guished from symbols), consists in the circumstance that, in them, 
the gift of grace, which is invisible and supersensual, is enveloped 
in elements that are visible and obvious to the senses, and is re- 
ceived, by means of these elements, through the external senses, 
in order that we may be assured even by these, of such reception. 

Obs. 1. — There is an essential difference between a symbol and a 
Sacrament. The former is merely an image and sign, addressed to 
the senses, of a supersensual conception ; its purpose is, to remind 
us of the remote and invisible object which it represents, by means 
of a present and visible sign. There is no essential union between 
it and a Sacrament. That which is sensible, or perceived by the 
►senses in the Sacrament is, it is true, also an image and sign of that 
which is supersensual, but the sensible and the supersensual are not 
apart from each other or separated, but are connected and united in 
the most intimate manner, insomuch that he who receives the sen- 
sible sign, at the same time receives the supersensual gift in, with, 
and under it. The symbol thus becomes a Sacrament, as soon as 
that which it designates, is added to, and united with, it. 

Obs. 2. — The external sign becomes a Sacrament when it is asso- 
ciated with the omnipotent Word (of the institution and promise) 
of Christ — which occurs at the Consecration. It is not the minister 
at the altar who converts the element into a Sacrament ; but the 
Word of Christ, which he pronounces in the name and by the au- 
thority of Christ, unites the present heavenly gift of grace with the, 
present earthly element; hence the minister's faith and devoutness 
cannot add aught to the blessing and the operation of the Sacrament, 
neither can his unbelief or unworthiness diminish aught. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 409 

Obs. 3. — It is not the reception of the heavenly gift of grace but 
the blessing connected with it, that depends on our faith. It operates 
unto the salvation of him who receives and employs it in faith, but 
unto the condemnation of the unbelieving and scornful* 

§ 189. Continuation. — (Baptism.) 

Baptism is u the washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost" (Tit. 3 : 5), connected in this present life with the 
water of Baptism. (John 3:5.) We are received by it into the 
fellowship both of the death and of the life of Christ (Bom. 6 : 
3, 4), adopted as the children of God, and made the heirs of 
eternal life. (Bom. 8 : 17.) In the old man, who is flesh, born 
of the flesh, the new man is born, spirit of the Spirit, of the 
water of Baptism, by virtue of the Word and promise of God. 
(John 3 : 6.) Every baptized person is thus born again, and has 
a two-fold being in himself — the image of x\dam, or, the old 
man, in so far as he was begotten and born of father and mother, 
— and the image of Christ, or the new man, in so far as he is 
born again of water and of the Spirit. But both natures, the 
old and the new, constitute one person only, and the point of 
union or the central point is the individual's self-consciousness, 
his personal self. It is the appointed task of this present life of 
probation and education, to conduct the new creature in us that 
is born of God by Baptism, to the maturity of a perfect man in 
Christ (Eph. 4 : 13), in order that it may govern and penetrate 
the old man, sanctifying and purifying the latter more and more, 
until the old man is changed and lost in the new creature. (Eph. 
4 : 22 ; Col. 3 : 9.) Further, to be baptized, that is, to be born 
again, is not all that is necessary to salvation, for when the 
growth and the improvement of the creature that is born, are not 
maintained by a sustenance, a superintendence and an education 
adapted to it, the result is, that it pines away and ultimately 
dies. 

Obs. 1. — The selection of water, as the visible element of the Sa- 
crament of Baptism, is not an unimportant or accidental circum- 
stance. Water is, on the contrary, better adapted to be the vehicle 
of baptismal grace than any other earthly element, because the na- 
tural effect of its application corresponds to the supernatural effeot 
35 



410 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

of baptismal grace, and is an image of it. "When water is employed 
in Baptism, it is no longer regarded as merely a purifying element, 
but also, and indeed, pre-eminently, as one that begets, fecundates, 
vivifies and regenerates. When water was employed by the ancients 
in their religious rites, it was beheld less in the former than in this 
latter aspect, which is as plainly sanctioned by the Scriptures as it 
is by nature itself. (2 Pet. 3:5; Gen. 1 : 2, 20—2 : 5 ; Job 14 : 9.) 
Obs. 2. — The Lord says : " He that believeth and is baptized, shall 
be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned " (Mark 16 : 
16), whether he is baptized or whether he is not baptized. The wise 
and wholesome appointment of God has connected with Baptism the 
privilege of sharing in the blessings of salvation that flow from 
Christ's life, sufferings, death, resurrection and exaltation at the 
right hand of God ; these blessings can be obtained by no other 
means, and in no other way, save by Baptism. We cannot, there- 
fore, be saved without Baptism; but, on the> other hand, Baptism 
without Faith not only confers no benefit, but also aggravates the 
individual's natural guilt. Now that Faith which is indispensable, 
in addition to Baptism, is of a two-fold nature : — it is prevenient and 
also consequential, that is, it precedes Baptism, or, it is the condition 
essential to the right reception of that Sacrament ; it also follows 
Baptism, or, it is the effect produced by this right reception. The 
conditions on the fulfilment of which any advantages resulting from 
Baptism depend are — not a thorough understanding, but a simple 
knowledge, of the way of salvation, — not that mature faith of which 
the evidence is afforded in a Christian life, but only an assent to the 
divine appointments, and a wish and ardent desire to obtain divine 
blessings. The latter frame of mind may be produced in the natural 
man, even before the blessings of salvation are really communicated, 
and must necessarily exist, before these blessings can be fully and 
profitably received ; the former, or the Christian character, can be 
acquired afterwards only, as the effect produced by the right recep- 
tion and the right application of the blessings of salvation (in the 
individual's illumination, justification and sanctification, §§ 192, 193), 
Prevenient Faith (that which precedes) is the rich soil in which Bap- 
tism is deposited as the seed — consequential Faith (that which fol- 
lows) is Saving Faith, and is the fruit produced by that seed. 

Obs. 3. — The Christian Church introduced Infant Baptism with 
entire unanimity by virtue of the Spirit by which it is guided into 
all truth ; it has maintained the necessity of such Baptism with firm- 
ness and success in opposition to sectarians and separatists, and 
never can consent to abandon it. The arguments that have been 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 411 

advanced against the Baptism of infants proceed from erroneous 
views or a want of understanding. The assertion that the baptismal 
formula in Matt. 28 : 19 (for the correct translation of which see 
§ 159. 2) is unfavorable to it, can be dictated by ignorance alone. 
The proof has never yet been furnished that the Apostles did not 
baptize infants ; but even if it could be furnished, no argument could 
be thence derived against the present practice of the Church. For 
the Church is called, under the superintendence of the Spirit by 
whom it is guided into all truth, to cultivate and foster the apostolic 
doctrines and usages, and conduct them to the highest and most 
complete development which they are capable of receiving. — The 
objections derived from the nature itself of Baptism seem to be more 
important. It has been said that the child cannot be baptized, as it 
cannot yet possess either knowledge or faith, and, in addition, as its 
own consent has not yet been obtained. Now, it is unquestionably 
true, that salvation itself, and consequently, Baptism also, cannot be 
received through compulsion. But when Baptism is administered 
to the child, compulsion or violence is as little employed, as it is 
when human knowledge and learning are communicated ; for these 
are often imparted not only without, but also in opposition to, the 
wish and consent of the child. The decision made by the parents 
is at once assumed to be the decision made by a minor; and, 
in the same manner, their Faith also, in a certain sense (in so 
far, at least, as faith is the condition on which Baptism depends, 
namely, assent, wish, desire, according to Obs. 2, above), is assumed 
to be the Faith of the child, previous to the age in which it may act 
with self-consciousness, as an independent individual. The bodily 
life of the child, previous to its birth, is identified with the mother's 
bodily life, and does not acquire an independent form, until the birth 
has occurred ; thus, too, the mental life of the child, even after its 
birth, is identified with the mental life of the parents, until the life 
of its own mind attains maturity and independence, and becomes 
clearly and distinctly self-conscious. — It is undoubtedly necessary 
that the adult who receives Baptism, should properly understand, or, 
rather, be acquainted with, the offered salvation, but it is necessary 
for the following reason only — that he may possess or acquire a wish 
and desire for the divine blessings, and assent to the mode in which 
they are conferred. But when the want of an expression of the 
child's own will is supplied by the distinct expression of the will 
and consent of the parents, as it occurs in the case of Infant Bap- 
tism, these claims are naturally not presented to the child, but are 
transferred to the parents. When the parents do not satisfy these 



412 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

claims, either through unbelief or ignorance, the next reference is to 
the Sponsors of the baptized child, and both are supported by the 
whole Church, which, like a spiritual mother, fulfils the duties, and 
exercises the rights of a parent. 

Obs. 4. — That awakening which occurs when life is restored after 
sickness, a swoon or apparent death, cannot be mistaken for the 
bodily birth with which the operations of life commence ; as little 
ought regeneration to be confounded with a spiritual awakening. 
When that communion with the Lord which was established through 
Baptism is not maintained and continually renewed by means of 
appropriate spiritual care and sustenance, a spiritual state ensues 
which corresponds to bodily sleep, a swoon or apparent bodily death, 
and which, if it is not seasonably corrected, terminates in actual or 
eternal death. The recovery of an individual from such a death- 
like sleep through the illumination and calling of the Holy Ghost, is 
termed his awakening. 

§ 190. Continuation. — {The Lord's Supper.') 

The baptized individual now receives in the Lord's Supper 
(§ 150. 3), that sustenance which the new man in him needs. 
Like the mother who imparts to the infant reposing on her bosom 
the nourishment derived from her own flesh and blood, the Re- 
deemer's eternal love, which is deeper than a mother's love 
(Isai. 49 : 15), sustains believers as " new-born babes" (1 Pet. 
2 : 2), born of the Spirit of Christ, with his own flesh and blood, 
in order that they all may come " unto a perfect man, unto the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4 : 13.) 
Even as Christ took part of our flesh and blood (which sin and 
death had corrupted, Heb. 2 : 14 ; Rom. 8 : 3), in order that he 
might be made like unto us in all things (Heb. 2 : 17), so, too, 
it is necessary that we should be made like unto him in all things, 
by receiving and taking part of his flesh and blood, given and 
broken for us at his death, glorified at his resurrection, and, at; 
his ascension, raised to the full participation of his eternal glory, 
and, consequently, of the omnipresence of his divine nature also. 
(§ 160. 2.) And, in order that we may be enabled to receive 
this supersensual food into our own nature, which is, in the 
present life, endowed with the bodily senses, and that we may be 
assured by our senses of such reception, he has enveloped that 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 413 

food in Bread and Wine, which are the representatives and most 
expressive signs of all nutritive power. 

Obs. — Four different views of the relation existing between the 
body and the blood of Christ, on the one hand, and the bread and 
wine, on the other, in the Lord's Supper, have acquired prominence. 
The Roman Catholic church teaches that the bread and wine are 
changed by the consecration into the body and blood of Christ, so 
that after that act, the body and blood alone remain. (Transubstan- 
tiation.) To this view, the one which Zwingli maintained, was dia- 
metrically opposed ; he taught that the bread and wine were merely 
symbols and signs of Christ's body and blood, that the former are 
and continue to be bread and wine alone, that they merely represent 
and remind us of Christ's body and blood, and that the design and 
the blessing of the Sacrament consist in the remembrance of Christ, 
which is rendered more vivid by such a solemn and significant act, 
and which also gives new vitality to faith. But the words in 1 Cor. 
10 : 16 ; " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the commu- 
nion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not 
the communion of the body of Christ," a ^ once show, that both the 
Roman Catholic and the Zwinglian views are unscriptural, for if 
there is a communion between the bread and body, and between the 
wine and blood, both must necessarily be present, and be united 
with each other. And, in particular, the words of the institution : 
This is my body — This is my blood" which are the words of a testa- 
ment and must therefore be understood in a strict and literal sense, 
contradict Zwingli's view. It is, further, contradicted by the words 
of the apostle in 1 Cor. 11 : 27, 29. according to which he who eats 
and drinks unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, 
and eats and drinks damnation [judgment] to himself, because he 
does not discern the Lord's body ; now in such a case, it is evident 
that that Lord must be present. Besides, this view of the Lord's 
Supper, deprives it entirely of its character as a necessary institu- 
tion ; for such a remembrance of Christ, and such an increase of 
faith can be produced to the same extent, without the assistance of 
the Sacrament, by many other means that may be employed. The 
true central point between these extremes, is occupied, in accordance 
with the Scriptures, by Luther's doctrine, namely, That both the 
bread and wine, and the body and blood, are essentially and truly 
present, and, That that which is heavenly, is received both by the 
believer and by the unbeliever in, with and under the terrestrial ele- 
ments. Calvin's doctrine attempts to establish an agreement be- 
tween those of Luther and Zwingli. According to his view, the 



414 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

glorified bodily nature of the Lord is certainly present in the Lord's 
Supper with power and efficacy; it is not, however, in, with and 
under the bread and wine, but merely along with them and at their 
side. For the bread and wine are on earth, and the body and blood 
of Christ are in heaven, and the almighty Word (of the institution 
and promise) of Christ does not unite (at the consecration, \ 188. 
Obs. 2) the heavenly with the terrestrial, but the Faith of man 
attracts the body of the Lord (or, rather, only a virtue going forth 
from the exalted body of Christ), down to itself. The bread and 
wine are only the tokens and pledges of the reception of the super- 
sensual and heavenly food, but not the means by which it is received. 
While the bodily mouth receives bread and wine, the spiritual mouth 
or Faith receives the heavenly food, and hence the unbeliever receives 
nothing but bread and wine. — The unsoundness of this view is 
shown by the following considerations : 1. In the passage 1 Cor. 10 : 
16, the apostle does not say, as Calvin's view would require, if it 
were correct, that Faith, but that bread is the communion of the 
body of Christ. 2. If, according to 1 Cor. 11 : 27, 29, he who eats 
and drinks unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of Christ, and 
thereby eats and drinks condemnation [judgment] to himself, that 
body and blood must undoubtedly have been received in the Sacra- 
ment by the unbeliever also. 3. Such a spiritual reception, through 
faith alone, may also occur in modes unconnected with the Sacra- 
ment : bread and wine are not absolutely necessary to it, and the 
Sacrament loses its character as a necessary institution. 4. Finally, 
Calvin's view does not do justice to the words of the institution. 

§ 191. The Church, viewed as an Institution of saving Grace. 

1. The administration and distribution of the Means of Grace, 
and the spiritual charge of the new life wrought by them [pastoral 
supervision — care of souls], are confided to the Church (§ 161. 
3). It is, consequently, the task of the latter to promote the 
external and internal extension and growth of the kingdom of 
God, and to " trade with the talents" (Matt. 25 : 16) intrusted 
to it, in order that rich results may be obtained. While the 
Church is engaged in performing this task, in which not only its 
appointed ministers, but all its members also, are interested, ac- 
cording to their respective opportunities, gifts and abilities, it is 
not abandoned to itself. For the Church is, at the same time, 
authorized to rely with confidence on the omnipotent protection 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 415 

of its King and Head, who conducts it through struggles and 
trials to victory and glory, as well as on the protecting care and 
support of the Spirit who operates in it, and who conducts it from 
error and weakness to truth and power. 

2. The Church is catholic, that is, universal or general, in its 
nature and design, since it is the divine purpose that it should 
embrace all nations and tongues on the face of the whole earth. 
It is, at the same time, one Church only, because Christ, the 
Head, is one. It is true that this one universal Christian Church 
has been divided, in the issue, into several 'particular Churches. 
This result has, however, by no means destroyed its unity and 
universality, as these Churches, although separated on earth, are 
inwardly united and made one, by one and the same Head in 
heaven and one and the same Spirit who worketh in all through 
the Word and the Sacraments. This unity, which is hidden at 
present, clouded and disturbed by human errors, infirmities and 
passions, must necessarily be made visible hereafter : the coming 
of the time in which it will appear visibly, is accelerated by that 
inward growth of the several churches, on which the increased 
strength and purity of the truth which they possess and the ex- 
pulsion of the errors which they retain, depend. Although such 
disunion, which is occasioned by man alone, still exists, and is a 
hinderance and a lamentable circumstance, the over-ruling Spirit 
of God has, in the mean time, thence derived advantages for us j 
for it has afforded an opportunity, under the superintendence of 
the Spirit, for the most ample development of the numerous and 
varied religious peculiarities and wants of the several Churches, 
and produced a salutary emulation among them. 

3. The true Church exists where the " Gospel is preached ac- 
cording to its pure intent and meaning, and the Sacraments are 
administered in conformity with the Word of God." A false 
or spurious Church may therefore be defined to be one which no 
longer retains any thing whatever that belongs to sound doctrine 
and the right use of the Sacraments; thanks be unto God that 
none of this description is found among the existing Christian 
particular churches ! The difference between them may be direct 
and very decided, with respect to many particular points ; still, 



416 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

this difference does not directly involve the vital question whether 
one of them is absolutely true or false ; it is merely that differ- 
ence which arises from the greater or less degree of purity, depth 
and extent in the knowledge which they respectively possess, and 
from the greater or less degree of propriety and scriptural truth 
observed in their use of the Sacraments. Every Church has a 
claim to be considered a true Church in so far as it possesses 
these two signs : in every Church in which the Word and the 
Sacraments still remain, believers can be saved, who conscien- 
tiously apply the truth which that Church may offer, while it is 
equally true that they may find salvation with less difficulty and 
with greater certainty in one Church than in another. 

Obs. — There is also a distinction made between the visible and 
the invisible Church. The former is the external union of all those 
who are baptized in the name of Christ and who confess his name ; 
among these there are many pretended and nominal Christians. The 
latter, on the contrary, is the communion of all the true and living 
members of the external church, who confess Christ not only with 
the mouth, but also with their whole heart. While this distinction 
is made, the fact ought, under no circumstances, to be overlooked, 
that the invisible Church has no existence without the visible Church, 
and that it is not separate from, or above the latter, but exists in it, 
and in it alone. For the Means of Grace have been granted, not to 
the invisible but to the visible Church, and the believer can have 
part in the grace of God in so far only as he is a member of the 
visible Church, and by virtue of that connection alone. 

§192. The Way of Salvation. — (Calling, Illumination, Con- 
version.') 

1. The Holy Spirit conducts sinners to Christ by means of 
the Word and the Sacraments, in order that they may obtain in 
him the remission of their sins, the renewal of their life, and 
eternal salvation. The way which leads to these, is called the 
Way of Salvation, or the Order of Salvation. The Holy Spirit 
commences his work in the heart of man by the Calling (Voca- 
tion) which he extends, that is, he sets forth to man through the 
preaching of the Gospel, God's counsel of salvation, inviting him 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 417 

to be reconciled to God through Christ, and to share in the glory 
of the kingdom of God which Christ has founded (Luke 14 : 
16-24 ; Matt. 22 : 1-14 ; 11 : 28-30 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 19, 20). When 
man does not close his ears and harden his heart against this call 
of the Holy Spirit, further instructions, derived from the Word 
of God, lead to his Illumination, the power of which is seen in 
his deep knowledge and conviction of his own misery and sinful- 
ness, and of the exceeding riches of the grace of God in Christ. 
Such knowledge is followed by Conversion, which is to be viewed 
in two aspects, a negative, and a positive. In the former aspect, 
Conversion is a turning away from sin, or Repentance ; in the 
latter, it is a turning to God, or Faith. 

2. Repentance is wrought by the Holy Ghost by means of the 
Law, which sets forth both our own sinfulness and unworthiness, 
and also the justice and holiness of God. True repentance con- 
sists, first, of a knowledge and confession of sins, considered as 
sins, that is, as acts of rebellion against God meriting his curse 
(Jer. 3 : 13 ; Ps. 51 : 3, 4) ; secondly, of heart-felt sorrow on 
account of these sins, that is, not sorrow occasioned by the un- 
welcome consequences of sins, but sorrow occasioned by the sins 
themselves, which deserve our hatred and abhorrence (2 Cor. 7 : 
10) ; and lastly, of a longing after grace and the remission of 
sins (Acts 16 : 30; Ps. 51 : 1, 2, 9-12); it does not consist of 
ungodly despair. This longing is, besides, the bond which con- 
nects repentance and faith. Faith is wrought by the Holy Ghost 
by means of the Gospel, which directs us to the Redeemer who 
delivers from all the misery of sin. A true and living Faith 
consists, first, of a knowledge of the grace of God in Christ, to- 
gether with an assent to, and trust in, the divine plan of salvation 
(Heb. 11:1; Matt. 8:2); secondly, of a confident and sincere 
approach to Christ in order to obtain grace (and, consequently, 
of a diligent use of the Means of Grace appointed by him, 
namely, the Word and the Sacraments, Heb. 4 : 16) ; and lastly, 
of a willing and grateful acceptance of the grace offered, as well 
as of a conscientious application of the grace received, — of which 
the evidence is seen in a holy and Christian life (James 2 : 17; 
Matt. 7 : 16). 



418 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

§ 193. Continuation. — (Justification, Sanctification.') 

1. When the sinner, thus disciplined and guided by the 
Spirit, turns to God and anxiously seeks salvation, God turns to 
him and grants it. The sinner's conversion, manifested in his 
repentance and faith, is then succeeded by his Justification and 
Sanctification, which proceed from God. Justification is the blot- 
ting out of the guilt of sin, or a release from the merited penalty, 
and is founded on the atoning and vicarious sufferings and death 
of Christ (§ 155. 2, Obs.). God imputes the merit and right- 
eouness of Christ to the repenting and believing sinner, releases 
him, on account of these, from all guilt and punishment, and 
declares him to be righteous and acceptable to Himself. Justifi- 
cation is effected without any aid which we afford, and without 
any merit derived from our works, and not for the sake of our 
faith, but by grace alone for Christ's sake, through that faith 
which accepts the offered merit of Christ (Horn. 5:1; Eph. 1 : 
6; Rom. 3 : 23-28; Gal. 3 : 11). 

2. The heart that is reconciled to God through justification by 
faith, now constitutes the appropriate field wherein Sanctification 
grows upward — it is the renewal of the w T hole life and conduct 
according to the good pleasure of God, after the example of Christ, 
through the operation of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is 
founded on the power of that new life, of which Christ furnished 
the manifestation in his own life, and which he communicates to 
us, the members of his body, and makes our own (John 15 : 5), 
in order that we might be thereby entirely renewed (2 Cor. 5 : 
17, 18), and be prepared for eternal life. 

3. Not one of these gracious operations of the Spirit, however, 
is at once completed or brought to a termination ; we cannot, on 
the contrary, remain the children of God and grow in grace, 
unless all these operations, from our Calling to our Sanctification, 
are daily renewed, strengthened and enlarged. The cause of the 
urgent necessity of such a daily renewal and increase, lies in the 
circumstance that our spiritual life is exposed to dangers on all 
sides (the lust of the flesh, the allurements of the world, the 
temptations of the adversary) by which we are often overcome, 
in consequence of our infirmities, errors and precipitance. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 419 

Obs. — In reference to the way and manner, as well as to the time 
and place, appointed for the introduction of the Sacraments in the 
order of salvation, the following principle is deduced from the pre- 
ceding statements. In the case of pagans and others who were ori- 
ginally unconnected with Christianity, Baptism (and after it the 
Lord's Supper also) is administered with propriety, as soon as they 
have obtained, through the preaching of the Word and religious in- 
structions, a knowledge and conviction of their own misery, and of 
the grace of God in Christ, and accordingly apply for admission into 
the Church. (See Acts 8 : 37 ; 16 : 30-33, &c.) But it is proper and 
necessary to adopt a different course in the case of Christian chil- 
dren ; the circumstance that they are born of Christian parents 
already shows that they are appointed to be members of the Church 
(1 Cor. 7 : 14.) As the administration of Baptism constitutes the 
first step which can be taken in their behalf, it consequently becomes 
a duty to administer it, for it would be an unjustifiable course to 
deprive a Christian child designedly of communion with its Lord 
and Saviour until it is of full age. But the reception of the Lord's 
Supper already implies a more mature knowledge and consciousness 
both of ourselves and of God, for without these we cannot satisfy the 
demands of the apostle, namely, "to shew the Lord's death, — to 
examine ourselves — and to discern the Lord's body." (1 Cor. 11 : 
26-29.) Hence the administration of the Lord's Supper within the 
Church is preceded by Confirmation, by which rite the young Chris- 
tian who has received appropriate religious instruction, and made a 
confession of faith, is declared to be spiritually of full age. 

§ 194. The Development and Limits of this Period. 

The close of the present period still belongs to the future ; it 
will arrive after the G-ospel shall have been preached to all the 
world, and an opportunity shall have been afforded to all men to 
appropriate the great salvation to themselves. The tares which 
the enemy sowed are, in the mean time, growing together with 
the wheat until the harvest, according to the word of the Lord. 
(Matt. 13 : 24, &c.) For it is not the kingdom of G-od alone 
which proceeds onward until it is fully and completely developed, 
unfolding successively its glorious blossoms and fruits, but the 
kingdom of that prince (John 12 : 31,) who is a ruler of the 
darkness of this world (Eph. 6 : 12), is also necessarily approach- 



420 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ing a full and complete development, and its accursed fruits will 
also reach their maturity, in order that it may itself be ripe for 
judgment and condemnation. Hence both salvation and ruin 
are drawing near at the same time, and the opposition between 
the two, and their irreconcilableness are more and more distinctly 
and positively set forth. The Church is therefore continually 
engaged in a warfare during this period, but it is firmly and im- 
movably established on the rock of salvation. The Church ex- 
hibits many fluctuations in its external condition during this 
warfare, but always conquers even when it seems for a season to 
be overcome. At one time it prospers externally and gains 
splendid victories over the power of error and darkness — it is 
thus externally strengthened and enlarged, as a type of its last 
and complete victory ; at another time, it is oppressed and per- 
secuted, in order that it may not become lukewarm, but be exer- 
cised and endowed with firmness by its struggles and trials, and 
that it may gain new inward vigor. 

Obs. — The special development of the kingdom of God on earth 
during this period, as far as it has already proceeded, does not belong 
to Sacred History, which is occupied with those materials only that 
are furnished by the Scriptures in their historical and prophetic por- 
tions, but to Church History, \ 6. 2* Those predictions (Rev. ch. 
6-19), which relate to the development still belonging to the future 
(and abounding in glorious triumphs and heavy calamities) are ex- 
pressed in the hieroglyphic terms appropriated to prophetic imagery ; 
they contain so many mysteries that any special interpretation which 
is attempted previous to the fulfilment, seems to be presumptuous, 
and hence the Church is obviously directed to content itself at pre- 
sent with the rich treasure of general instructions, warnings, conso- 
lations and edifying lessons, which Prophecy already affords. 

* See the [author's] Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, Mitau, 1852, and 
[his] Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschickte, 3d edition, Mitau, 1853. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 421 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION OF SALVATION. 

§ 195. The Circumstances on which the ultimate Consummation 
depends, and the Signs which precede it. 

1. The time of the last or final consummation is hidden, ac- 
cording to a wise decree of God, from all creatures — both angels 
and men (Mark 13 : 32, 33). The Spirit of prophecy has, 
nevertheless, given certain intimations which both enable the 
Christian, like a watchman of the holy city of God (Isai. 21 : 11), 
and also render it his duty, to discern the signs of the times 
(Matt. 16 : 3), and distinguish the approach of that day (Matt. 
24 : 32, 33). For the holy Scriptures have revealed the general 
conditions or circumstances on which the momentous close of the 
present process of development depends, and also the tokens and 
signs which precede it. It is true that the determination of the 
time and the hour depends directly and primarily on the wise and 
omnipotent will of God (Acts 1:7); but it is, at the same time, 
connected with circumstances, the control of which has been com- 
mitted to men, particularly, with the preaching of the gospel in 
all the world (Matt. 24 : 14) ; and hence the coming of the last 
times will be accelerated or delayed, in part at least, in proportion 
to the missionary zeal which Christians display. With this fun- 
damental condition, the necessity of which is obvious, another is 
immediately connected, namely, that the fulness of the Gentiles 
should come in, and that then, after the last shall have become 
the first, all Israel also, should be saved (Rom. 11 : 25, 26, 
§ 119). 

Obs. — When the circumstance is considered that the Gospel must 
be preached to all men, before the end can come, a question arises 
concerning the condition, in this respect, of the many millions of 
pagans, who have died without obtaining any knowledge of Christ. 
Before a scriptural answer to this question can be given, it is neces- 
sary that two preliminary points should be admitted as firmly esta- 
blished — first, that God will have all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 
2 Pet. 3 : 9), and, secondly, that out of Christ there is no salvation 
36 



422 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

either in heaven or on earth (Acts 4 : 12), for "he is the propitiation 
for our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
world" (1 John 2 : 2). Now if it is equally clear and certain that 
man can appropriate this salvation to himself by faith alone, and 
that faith comes by the preaching of the Word (Rom. 10 : 13, &c), 
it seems to follow necessarily that the Gospel will yet be preached in 
Hades (§ 156. Obs. 1) to those who, without any fault of their own, 
obtained no knowledge of Christ in this life, in order that they too 
may adopt or reject that Gospel. But here the truth cannot be over- 
looked that the mind of God is not controlled by the inferences which 
the human mind may draw, and that he can easily cause these pa- 
gans to ripen, according to their own decision, either for the judg- 
ment of life or the judgment of condemnation. Still, if we are in- 
formed (1 Pet. 3 : 19, 20), that after Christ descended into hell, he 
preached to the unbelieving spirits in prison, and if the same apostle 
immediately adds (4 : 6), that the gospel was preached also to them 
that are dead, in order that both the dead and the living might be 
judged, the inference above seems to be justified in express terms. 
And it does not, in the least degree, diminish the great importance 
and necessity of Missions, nor impair the obligations of Christendom 
to sustain them. 

2. As soon as these conditions are fulfilled, Christianity cannot 
fail to pour out once more its greatest and richest blessings over 
the whole earth and the inhabitants thereof; this result will 
appear in the millennial period (Kev. ch. 20). The power of 
darkness will, at the same time, be brought, without fail, 
to its highest development; it will, for the last time, exert all 
its remaining strength, and the Church will once more expe- 
rience a season of affliction, exceeding in severity all that pre- 
ceded it, but thanks be to God, it can be only of brief duration 
(Eev. 20 : 3, 8, &c. • Matt. 24 : 22). Then false Christs and 
false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many (Matt. 24 : 5, 
11, 24), the kingdom of darkness will collect all its strength 
under Antichrist, its visible head (2 Thess. 2 : 1-10), and 
misery and wretchedness will abound — injustice, rebellion and 
war, in the life of the nations, — pestilence, scarcity, and earth- 
quakes, in the life of nature (Matt. 24 : T). But then, too, 
certain signs in heaven and on earth (Matt. 24 : 29, 30), will 
announce the speedy coming of the Son of man, and the day of 
judgment and redemption will arrive suddenly and unexpectedly. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 423 



§ 196. The Millennium. 

1. Rev. 20 : 1-6. — After the Church shall have passed 
through many severe trials and afflictions, which will be, pro- 
bably, aggravated towards the close of the preceding period, it 
will, at length, celebrate its most glorious, extensive and enduring 
earthly victory. For it is indispensably necessary that the results 
which Christianity can produce in this present life, should at a 
certain time really be made visible without hinderance or diminu- 
tion — it must at length be made manifest that the labors and 
efforts, as well as the afflictions and victories of the Church, al- 
though all seemed to be fruitless, were by no means unproductive 
of results. Hence, the prince of darkness with all his power 
will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, till a thousand 
years shall be fulfilled. The influence of Satan, his tempta- 
tions and snares, his cunning and malice, will all cease to be 
felt. The holy martyrs of the truth, belonging to every age, 
will have part in the first resurrection (which perhaps already 
began with the events described in Matt. 27 : 52, 53), and will 
live and reign with Christ a thousand years. This reign does 
not imply, it is true, a visible, terrestrial and secular government, 
as ignorance and folly (Chiliasni) have often supposed, but one 
that is invisible and celestial ; heaven and earth will not then 
already have attained a perfect end and consummation, death will 
not yet have been abolished, and the final judgment, when the 
evil will be separated from the righteous, will not yet have taken 
place. Nevertheless, the results and influences of this invisible 
reign, will be visible, terrestrial and secular. Christianity will 
gain a complete external victory, will be unconditionally recog- 
nized by all rulers and governments, and will exhibit a most glo- 
rious development in all the relations and circumstances of life, 
in art and science, and in all the employments and interests of 
men ; the loftiest and the most lowly relations of life will be es- 
tablished and sanctified in the Lord (see, for instance, Zech. 14 : 
20, 21). 

2. But this consummation is still of a terrestrial nature, and 
is, consequently, not yet complete. The Evil one is deprived of 



424 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

power, but evil itself, as it exists in the world, and evil men, con- 
tinue to exercise their influence. The contest between the 
Spirit and the flesh is still maintained ; the saints walk by faith, 
and not yet by sight, like strangers and pilgrims on the earth ; 
man eats bread in the sweat of his brow; the creature is not 
delivered from the bondage of corruption (Rom. 8 : 21), and 
death persists in claiming his tribute. Nevertheless, the Spirit 
is poured out over the Church and believers in the largest mea- 
sure ; the contest of the Spirit with the flesh is less severe, and 
is, in general, successful, and the Church usually prevails over 
the enemies of salvation who still remaxn. Isaiah surpasses all 
others in portraying this period of peace and blessedness in glow- 
ing colors. While he employs the imagery of the prophets, an 
essential and close connection exists between the image and the 
reality; the splendor of the sun and the moon is increased (Isai. 
30 : 26) ; the raging elements and ferocious animals are controlled 
by man, whose dominion has received an accession of strength, 
(ch. 11 : 6-9), and the power of death is diminished, for " there 
shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that 
hath not filled his days, for the child shall die a hundred years 
old" (ch. 65 : 20). 

Obs. — As the "thousand years" (millennium, Rev. 20 : 2-7), are 
a prophetic number, they are not necessarily to be understood in a 
literal sense. — The Millennium presents two aspects with respect to 
its significance ; in its relation to the development that belongs to 
the past, it is the period in which are concentrated all the blessings 
diffused by Christianity in silence and obscurity during the thou- 
sands of years that passed away, while it was veiled in lowliness 
and a servile form ; in its relation to the development that belongs 
to the future, it is a period affording a foretaste of the joys to come, a 
period appropriated to the organic preparation for the time assigned 
to the final and perfect consummation. It is one of the laws of de- 
velopment that every essentially new form or condition, should be 
represented and prepared, previous to its complete and abiding mani- 
festation, by means of transitory manifestations. Thus, the appear- 
ance of Christ was represented by the types of the Old Testament, 
his resurrection and ascension to heaven were shadowed in the trans- 
figuration on Tabor, the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pen- 
tecost was set forth in the previous communication to the disciples 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 425 

of the Spirit, when the Lord breathed on them (John 20 : 22), &c, 
Sec. In the same manner, the millennium will afford indications of 
future events ; the general resurrection is represented by the first 
resurrection — the day of judgment by the reign of Christ and his 
saints — eternal blessedness by the peace of the thousand years — the 
transfiguration or renovation of heaven and earth by increased vigor 
in the life of nature, &c. 

§ 197. The little Season of the last Contest. 

1. Rev. 20 : 3, 7-10. — Satan "must be loosed a little season 

— when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out 
of his prison" (ver. 3, 7). The power of evil had not been an- 
nihilated during the thousand years, but merely repressed and 
rendered innoxious. Evil has now regained a point of union and 
support in its prince, and once more attempts to gather all its re- 
sources; the longer and the more rigorously it had been bound 
and coerced, the more evidently such a reaction must follow, since 
these alternate movements of good and evil cannot cease, until 
the latter is completely sundered from the former and subdued. 
But this effort of evil is merely the last glimmering of a flame 
that is on the point of extinction — it is its last convulsive 
writhing, in which the tenacity of its serpent's nature is betrayed 

— it is a final struggle, exhausting all its strength, and it dies in 
consequence of the deadly wound which it has already received. 
Then " there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and 
shall show great signs and wonders : insomuch that, if it were 
possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24 : 24). 
" Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the be- 
ginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And 
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be 
saved : but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" 
(ver. 21, 22). "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of 
many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, 
the same shall be saved" (ver. 12, 13). Wars and rebellions will 
rage among the nations, and pestilence, scarcity and earthquakes 
prevail in nature (ver. 6 : 7) 

2. This extraordinary energy of ungodliness is derived from 
the union of all the elements and powers of darkness, which are 



426 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

combined under one visible head. This ruler is Antichrist (1 
John 2 : 18, 22), " the man of sin, the son of perdition, who 
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped ; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of 
God, showing himself that he is God — the Wicked one, whose 
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, 
and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness 
in them that perish" (2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4, 9, 10). But this season 
of the most severe temptations and sorrows to which the children 
of God are exposed, and of the deepest humiliation and most 
cruel persecution which the Church of God can experience, is 
"a little season" only (Rev. 20 : 3), and is shortened for the 
elect's sake (Matt. 24 : 22). When the man of sin is revealed 
in all his Satanic wickedness, " the Lord shall consume him with 
the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness 
of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:8). "Fire shall come down from 
God out of heaven and devour" them — that is, the fire in which 
" the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" 
and from which " new heavens and a new earth" shall proceed 
(2 Pet. 3 : 10, 13) — "and the devil that deceiveth them shall 
be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone" (Rev. 20 : 9, 10). 

Obs. — The significance and necessity of this last season of afflic- 
tion, may be perceived by viewing it in two different aspects. On 
the one hand, evil, which obstinately withdraws from salvation, 
claims a full development, as well as that which is good — indeed, 
"for this cause God" himself sends " strong delusion" (2 Thess. 2 : 
11). Even as Satan was bound during the millennium, in order that 
the way of salvation might be fully unfolded without hinderance or 
interruption, in this present world, so, too, after the expiration of 
the millennium, the power of the Holy Ghost which had hitherto 
opposed sin in the process of hardening itself, and prevented its 
complete development, now recedes for a season, in order that sin 
may be fully unfolded, revealed and exposed, for in this manner it 
ripens for judgment. But, on the other hand, the Church also, 
after receiving the abundant grace bestowed during the millennium, 
needs such a season, in which it may be tried and sifted, before it is 
fully approved and perfected. It is indispensable that those should 
be known, who not only were the friends of the Church in its pros- 
perity, but who also remained faithful when it was in affliction and 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 427 

distress (Matt. 24 : 13). Indeed, the path of the Church to glory 
and joy leads through humiliation and affliction — it cannot rise to 
the highest honor and blessedness, unless it ascends from the deepest 
shame and sorrow. Even as in the life of the Redeemer, the most 
severe indignities which Jews and Gentiles inflicted on him, his 
greatest agony in Gethsemane, and the most excruciating pains 
which he endured on the cross, immediately preceded the highest 
glory and honor which he received, so too, it is appointed that the 
Church, which is the body of Christ, should advance to its perfec- 
tion, by proceeding in the same path. 

§ 198. The Second Coming of Christ 

1. The " coming" of the Lord, when he shall hold the judg- 
ment and perfect all things, is not an isolated event, but is, much 
rather, the culminating point of a coming which is felt throughout 
the entire history of the world. Every interposition of the om- 
nipotent Ruler and Judge of the world who sits on the right hand 
of omnipotence, every progressive movement of his kingdom, 
every victory which he gains over his enemies, and every judg- 
ment which overtakes them — is a u coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ" (1 Cor. 1:7; 2 Pet, 1 : 16, &c). All that shall 
be completed by his coming on the day of judgment, is prepared 
and developed in the progress of the preceding centuries by his 
uninterrupted and continued coming. It began with his ascen- 
sion to heaven; it closes on the day of judgment, The former 
or gradual coming is distinguished from this final coming by the 
peculiar mode of his appearance. The former is his invisible 
and hidden action, of which the eye of faith alone can obtain a 
glimpse or a full view, the latter is the action of the Lord which 
shall be revealed and be made visible to the whole world. The 
former merely designs to open the way, and is consequently often 
humble in its form, the second coming designs to fulfil and com- 
plete, and is consequently characterized by infinite glory and 
splendor, is preceded by startling and impressive signs, is full of 
majesty when it occurs, and is both unspeakably glorious and 
unspeakably terrible in its effects. 

2. This day of the Lord will come suddenly and unexpectedly 
<as a thief in the night/' (1 Thes. 5 : 2.) " As the lightning- 



428 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall 
also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24 : 27.) Sudden 
and inevitable destruction will come upon all scorners, and they 
shall not escape. (1 Thes. 5:8.) Fearful signs in heaven and 
on earth will announce that the appearance of the Judge of the 
world is at hand. The whole creation will be conscious of un- 
utterable woe, The ungodly will be filled with terror and 
despair; even the righteous will fear and anxiously look after 
those things which are coming on the earth, and the whole crea- 
tion, that "groaneth and travaileth in pain" (Rom. 8 : 22), will 
be shaken to its foundations — for, in this sinful world, each birth 
which subsequently diffuses joy, is preceded by anxiety and pain. 
Such throes the travailing creation will experience : u upon the 
earth there shall be distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea 
and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, and 
for looking after those things which are coming on the earth : 
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21 : 25, 26.) 
But "the Spirit and the bride (that is, the Church of Christ) 
say, Come ! .... Even so, come, Lord Jesus !" (Rev. 22 : 
17-20.) — " The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the 
powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall appear 
the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the 
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man 
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And 
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and 
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one 
end of heaven to the other." (Matt. 24 : 29-31.) 

2. Then " the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are 
alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with 
the Lord." (1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17.) " The day of the Lord will 
eome as a thief in. the night; in the which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall 
be burned up." (2 Pet, 3 : 10.) — It was in an august vision that 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 429 

Joliii beheld the developments of this great day. " Fire came 
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them (the adversaries). 
.... And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, 
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away \ and there 
was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and 
great, stand before God ; and the books were opened .... and 
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in 
the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the 
dead which were in it; and death and hell (hades), delivered up 
the dead which were in them. . . . And whosoever was not 
found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And he that sat 
upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 
ch. 20, 21.) 

Obs. — The times in which the particular events of that great day 
of the future will occur, cannot be distinguished from each other re- 
spectively, neither can they be arranged in a regular order of suc- 
cession. Indeed, it is not probable that such an order will be 
observed in the fulfilment; the events will unquestionably be simul- 
taneous. The appearance of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, 
the change of those that are alive and remain, the renovation of the 
earth, the judgment, the sentence and its fulfilment — are all events 
belonging to a single indescribably solemn and holy moment, which 
will comprehend in itself the happiness and misery of all eternity. 

§ 199. The Resurrection of the Dead, the Change which the 
Living will undergo, and the Renovation of Heaven and Earth. 

1. Death, or the separation of the body and soul, is the wages 
of sin (Rom. 6 : 23) ; the resurrection, or the reunion of the 
soul with the glorified body, is the fruit of the Redemption. If 
the soul was not endowed with power sufficient to maintain pos- 
session of the body, it can still less be able to regain control over 
that body, after it has once been lost and has turned to dust. 
" But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first- 
fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man 
came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15 : 20, 21.) 
Christ has overcome death in himself and for us — he opened the 
way, and draws us, the members of his body, after him. — When 



430 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

the body moulders, its parts which were taken out of the ground, 
return unto the ground, according to the words pronounced of 
old. (Gen. 3 : 19.) But the body that is consigned to the 
ground, is like seed sown in hope. " It is sown in corruption, it 
is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in 
glory : it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power : it is sown a 
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural 
body, and there is a spiritual body" (a^/xa ^vx^xov, a^a rtvsvixatixov, 
1 Cor. 15 : 42-44). Even as a new plant comes forth through 
the vitalizing power of the sun from the seed that is deposited in 
the ground and seems to die, so too a new and incorruptible body 
will, by the power of the risen Christ, proceed from the moulder- 
ing terrestrial body." (1 Cor. 15 : 36-38.) While we dwelt on 
earth, Christ gave us his glorified body and blood in the blessed 
Sacrament : he now proceeds even to " change our vile body that 
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Phil. 3 : 21). 

2. The resurrection will be general; it will comprehend all 
the dead, out it will not be the same in the case of each indi- 
vidual — to some, it will be a resurrection of life unto salvation ; 
to others, a resurrection of judgment unto damnation. " The 
hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto 
the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the 
resurrection of damnation." (John 5 : 28, 29.) The wicked 
must also rise, in order that they too may attain their consum- 
mation — which is damnation. They are not glorified in the re- 
surrection; for the bodies of the wicked, who have nothing in 
common with Christ, cannot be ei fashioned like unto " the body 
of Christ ; these will receive a body corresponding to their in- 
ward state, and constituted to be an organ of their torment and 
damnation, as the body of the blessed is an organ of their 
blessedness. To the former, the words of Christ probably refer : 
" Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 
(Mark 9 : 44, compare Isai. 66 : 24.) 

3. But the bodies of those who shall still be alive when the 
last day arrives, will not see corruption antecedently to their 
glorious change. " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 
of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Cor. 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 431 

15 : 50) ) they will, consequently, leave behind all their terres- 
trial and corruptible parts. "Behold," Paul continues (ver. 51, 
52), "I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall 
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the 
last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Now, as death 
is the wages of sin, and by sin has passed upon all men (Bom, 
5 : 12), this change will probably not take place without the fear 
and trembling which the "old man" (Eph. 4 : 22) on other oc- 
casions experiences in the hour of death. The terrors of death, 
the dread of corruption, and the rapture produced by the glorious 
change, are here combined and compressed within the compass of 
the same moment in which the change occurs. 

4. "The earnest expectation of the creature" which had 
waited during those many thousands of years " for the manifesta- 
tion of the sons of God," will be at length fulfilled ; " because 
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
(Bom. 8 : 19-21.) According to the constitution which nature 
received at the creation, it needed further development, and was 
capable of it ; man had been appointed to exercise dominion over 
it, and conduct it to its highest development, or to its consum- 
mation. (§ 10.) But he drew it with him, on the contrary, when 
he fell, and brought upon it the curse, which was designed to 
reach him through the medium of nature. All that he omitted 
to do, all that he marred, is now renewed and perfected through 
the renovation of heaven and earth by the second Adam, who 
often healed the wounds and controlled the convulsions of nature 
while he dwelt on earth in a servile form. (§§ 138, 139.) This 
renovation could no longer be accomplished, according to the 
original design at the beginning, by means of a peaceful organic 
development, for such a course had been disturbed and arrested 
by sin ; it could be effected only by the establishment of a new 
course of development, the introduction and consummation of 
which required the violent convulsions produced by fervent heat 
and a purifying fire. After the dross has been separated by this 
conflagration of the world, there will come forth "according to 



482 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

his promise, — new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness" (2 Pet. 3 : 10-13; Isai. 65 : 17; Rev. 21 : 1). 

§200. The Judgment. 

1. While the development of the kingdom of God is pro- 
ceeding, many intermediate degrees between positive faith and 
positive unbelief are manifested — lukewarmness, indifference, 
instability, irresolution, wavering, doubts, &c. Now it is the 
object of the present course of development to conduct every 
case of indecision, with respect to faith or unbelief, to a 
positive and final decision, according to the individual's own 
choice ; the Judgment cannot take place until this object is at- 
tained. The last judgment is, therefore, not a formal trial, not 
an investigation, not a settlement, not even a decision, but merely 
a public manifestation of that judgment which each has pro- 
nounced in his own case after accepting or rejecting the offered 
salvation. The history of the world is the true judgment of the 
world. " For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn 
the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He 
that believeth on him, is not condemned : but he that believeth 
not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the 
name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the con- 
demnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved dark- 
ness rather than light." (John 3 : 17-19.) 

2. It is also true that " the Father — hath committed all judg- 
ment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as 
they honor the Father/' (John 5 : 22.) But his judgment con- 
sists herein merely, that he pronounces and brings to the light 
all that had been hidden, and that he assigns to each individual 
the place which that individual has chosen himself. This judg- 
ment is, as its name (xpisig') imports, a discrimination, sepa- 
ration; it is a separation of the righteous from the unrighteous 
— <,hat is, of those who by faith in the Son of G od obtained the 
remission of their sins and the grace of sanctification, and who 
are, consequently, rich in good works and the fruits of love, from 
those who would not believe, who accordingly remained in sin 
and condemnation, and who produced no genuine good works 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 433 

and fruits of love. The angels are the ministers and messengers 
of Christ, when this judgment is held (Matt. 13 : 49, 50) : the 
saints (perhaps those of the first resurrection, Rev. 20 : 4) are 
his ministers and associates (Matt. 19 : 28 ; 1 Cor. 6 : 2, 3). 

Obs. — When Christ himself describes this judgment, he adopts 
the form of a parable, in Matt. 25 : 31, &c. " When the Son of 
man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then 
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him shall be 
gathered all nations : and he shall separate them one from another, . 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the 
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the 
King say unto them on his right hand, " Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world." .... Then shall he say also unto them on the left 
hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for 
the devil and his angels." .... "And these shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment : but the righteous into life eternal." Moreover, 
this judgment will not only comprehend all men, but also all (the 
fallen) angels (1 Cor. 6:3; Jude, ver. 6 ; Rev. 20 : 10). 

§ 201. Eternal Life and Eternal Death. 

1. The Judgment of the world is the close of the present and 
the introduction of the future age of the world — ald>v ov-tog and 
oXCiv ixslvog or \jLzVkiov. It is the distinguishing feature of this 
future age of the world, that time is absorbed by eternity and 
identified with it. Time does not cease to be time, even as the 
creature does not cease to be a creature; the creature and time 
belong together and can never be separated. But time, by its 
union with eternity, partakes of all the attributes of the latter, 
as the humanity of Christ, after its exaltation to the right hand 
of the Father, partakes of all the attributes of the deity of the 
Son with which it is personally united (§ 160. 2, Obs.), and as 
we also, by means thereof, shall be " partakers of the divine na- 
ture' ' (2 Pet. 1:4). Hence, any further historical development 
or any change, is entirely precluded ; the creature has arrived 
either at the fullest communion with God, which was originally 
designed for it (beyond which a more advanced development, is 
neither possible nor conceivable) — or, after hardening itself ob- 
37 



434 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

stinately against the drawing of divine grace, at an absolute sepa- 
ration from God (after which a re-union is no longer possible). 
Now this impossibility of a change, or this incapability of a still 
higher development in the case of the righteous who are " made 
perfect" (Heb. 12*: 23), is not only not inactivity, monotony and 
tedium, but is altogether of an opposite character. For their ac- 
tion then only acquires its appropriate object, namely, on the one 
hand, the infinite fulness of the Divine Being, whose glory and 
majesty it demands a whole eternity to behold, to know and to 
praise — and on the other hand, that glorified and perfected na- 
ture, of which man then first becomes absolutely the king and 
mediator. 

2. The glory and blessedness of Eternal Life cannot be ade- 
quately described in human language, or be imagined by the 
human mind. The renovated earth will be endowed with un- 
speakable glory, and be made the abode of the blessed. " The 
new Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God with men, comes down 
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband" (Rev. 21 : 2, 3). There the many mansions in the 
Father's house, are found, which Christ went to prepare for us 
(John 14 : 2); there Christ, eternally God and man, has esta- 
blished the throne of his presence, among his own people, whom 
he is not ashamed to call brethren (Heb. 2 : 11), and who are 
the heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8 : 17; 
John, ch. 17). Faith is raised to vision (1 Cor. 13 : 12 ; 2 Cor. 
5:7); all that is " in part" only in this life, in knowledge, in 
volition and in feeling, will be done away, but love, which will 
never be done away (1 Cor. 13 : 8, &c), is exalted to a fulness 
which embraces all. "And the city had no need of the sun, 
neither of the moon, to shine in it : for the glory of God did 
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21 : 23). 
"No temple is therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the 
Lamb are the temple of it" (v. 22). "A pure river of water of 
life, clear as crystal, proceeds out of the throne of God and of 
the Lamb, and, in the midst of the streets of it .... is the tree 
of life" (Rev. 22 : 1, 2; 2:7; 22 : 19). 

Obs. — The new Jerusalem is named, with an evident reference to 
the Tabernacle of the old covenant (§ 45), " the tabernacle of God 



REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 435 

with men, wherein he will dwell with them" (Rev. 21 : 3). That 
which was merely a movable and portable tent during Israel's wan- 
derings in the wilderness, and afterwards became a temple of cedar, 
strongly built, and surrounded by massive walls, now appears, in the 
vision granted to the seer of the New Testament, as a strong city, 
which the imagination of interpreters has in vain attempted to de- 
scribe. That symbol, and this vision express the same conception, 
as it appears in different stages of its development. The dwelling 
of God with his people still bears an imperfect character in the ta- 
bernacle and the temple ; for not only is the dwelling-place of God 
still separated from the dwelling-places of the people, but that sepa- 
ration is moreover maintained by the necessity which exists that 
human mediators should intervene. Christianity has already effaced 
the distinction between the priest and the people, so that the court 
of the temple may now be said to constitute a part of the Sanctuary 
(Heb. 9 : 2) — all have become priests and may always approach the 
mercy-seat. Still, the distinction established between the Sanctuary 
and the Holiest of all, continues to exist, as we are yet walking by 
faith and not by sight. But this distinction also will be abolished 
in the consummated state of the kingdom of God. The Holiest of 
all will then include the two divisions which were formerly beyond 
it, the Sanctuary and the court, and even all Jerusalem. Bat the 
august vision of the seer admits also of a further and a retrospective 
application ; the heavenly Jerusalem realizes not only the conception 
involved in the Tabernacle, but also fulfils and completes the one set 
forth in Paradise, for " in the midst of the street of it is the tree of 
life" (Rev. 22 : 2 ; Gen. 2 : 9 ; 3 : 22), and thus it harmoniously 
combines in itself the beginning, the middle and the end of the 
kingdom of God (§ 12. 3. I 14. Obs. 2, 3). 

3. On the other hand, Prophecy permits us to glance only 
through a dark veil at the state and the abode of the cursed, 
whose lot is eternal (or the second) death. Christ speaks of an 
unquenchable fire, " where their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched" (Mark 9 : 43, 44) — and, of an " outer darkness, 
where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8 : 
12). Peter speaks of " the mist of darkness reserved for ever" 
(2 Pet. 2 : 17). Paul says: " They shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power" (2 Thess. 1:9), and John saw in a vision a 
" lake of fire, in which they are tormented day and night for ever 
and ever" (Rev. 20 : 10, 14), and "the smoke of their torment, 



436 REDEMPTION AND SALVATION. 

ascending up for ever and ever" (ch. 14 : 11). Eternal damna- 
tion consists, accordingly, in the first place, or negatively, in an 
eternal banishment from the presence of God and from all bless- 
edness, which can be found in communion with him alone — to a 
place perfectly and entirely destitute of all light and life^ of all 
pleasure and enjoyment — where no communion will be found 
except with the outcasts of the world <)f angels and the world of 
men, who are total strangers to sympathy and love. It consists, 
in the second place, or positively, in unspeakable agony of con- 
science, which nothing can alleviate/soothe or stifle, in the tor- 
turing presence and society of reprobate angels and men, and in 
the torments which are inflicted on the lost by the nature of their 
abode, from which light and life are expelled. 

4. The final Judgment was the last act of the Messianic action 
of Christ. His three-fold Messianic office will then have been 
fulfilled, and will consequently cease. His operations, as a pro- 
phet, will cease, since either none will remain who need instruc- 
tion, or none will be found who are capable of receiving it; he 
will cease to be a high-priest, since all who are capable of being 
reconciled to God are now reconciled, and his kingly acts will 
terminate, since no friends will now be found who still need pro- 
tection, and no enemies will remain to be subdued. Christ must 
reign, as Paul teaches us, till he hath put all enemies under his 
feet; then he will put an end to all dominion, government and 
power, and will deliver even his (Messianic) kingdom to God the 
Father. "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then 
shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things 
under him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15 : 23-28). 



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THE TRUE GLORY OF WOMAN, 

IS PORTRAYED IN THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OP OU» 
LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 

BY THE REV. H. HARBAUG-H, A. M. 

AUTHOR OF THE "SAINTED DEAD," "HEAVENLY RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS," 
" THE HEAVENLY HOME," &C. 

" When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, 
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Introduction. 

Chapter 1. — Mary, the Ideal Virgin. 

" 2. — Mary, the Model Virgin. 

" 3. — Mary, the Model Betrothed. 

« 4. — Mary, the Model Wife. 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter 5. — Mary, the Model Mother. 

" 6. — Mary, the Model Disciple. 

" 7. — Mary, the Model Saint. 

" 8. — Is Mary an object of Worship? 

" 9. — The Ever Virgin Mary. 



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PROFESSOR OP CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP DORPAT, IN. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH GERMAN EDITION, 

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PROCTOR'S HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES 
With 154 Illustrations. 



HISTGSY OF TEE CRUSADES, 

ffiEIR RISE, PROGRESS, AND RESULTS. By Major Proctor of tki 

Royal Military Academy. 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER I. The First Crusade. — Causes of the Crusades — Preaching ox thfc 
First Crusade — Peter the. Hermit — The Crusade undertaken by the People— 
The Crusade undertaken by the Kings and Nobles — The First Crusaders at 
Constantinople — The Siege of Nice — Defeat of the Turks — Seizure of Edessa — 
Siege and Capture of Antioch by the Crusaders — Defence of Antioch by the 
Crusaders — Siege and Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. 

CHAPTER II. The* Second Crusade.— State of the Latin Kingdom— Origin 
of the Orders of *Religious Chivalry — Fall of Edessa — Preaching of the Second 
Crusade — Louis VII. and Conrad III. in Palestine. 

CHAPTER III. The Third Crusade.— The Rise of Saladin— Battle of Tibe- 
rias, and Fall of Jerusalem— The Germans undertake the Crusade- -Richard 
Coeur de Lion in Palestine. 

CHAPTER IV. The Fourth Crusade.— The French, Germans, and JUliani 
unite in the Crusade — Affairs of the Eastern Empire — Expedition against Con- 
stantinople — Second Siege of Constantinople. 

CHAPTER V. The Last Four Crusades.— History of the Latin Empire of 
the East— The Fifth Crusade— The Sixth Crusade— The Seventh Crusade- -The 
Eighth Crusade. 

CHAPTER VI. — Consequences op the Crusades. 



At the present time, when a misunderstanding concerning the Holy Places at 
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cf the infidels. It would seem that the interest in these places is still alive; and 
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tfith the vigorous style, and the happy power of giving vividness, colour, and 
drilling interest to the events which he narrates, so conspicuous in Major Proc- 
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complete and entertaining a narrative in so reasonable a compass. 

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